


Just know that I did it out of love

by IsabellaStarsAreEverywhere



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alpha Dean, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Bottom Sam, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, First Time, Forbidden Love, Implied Mpreg, M/M, Misunderstandings, Omega Sam, Possessive Dean, Protective Dean Winchester, Romance, Top Dean, Unrelated Winchesters, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-08-19 23:16:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8228101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsabellaStarsAreEverywhere/pseuds/IsabellaStarsAreEverywhere
Summary: An abandoned pup is almost unheard of within the werewolf community. So imagine the surprise when John Winchester finds a lonely pup in an abandoned house in the middle of the woods. John brings the pup home with him, and his family welcome the newest addition with open arms. But the happiness is short-lived. According to the law, the Winchesters cannot keep the pup forever. The pup is an omega, rare and precious, and when the council find out, they see an opportunity to make a lot of money. Many alphas are interested in buying an omega, and they are all willing to pay a fortune.The council decide that the Winchesters can only keep Sam until he’s 18, and after that the council will find Sam a suitable mate.The Winchesters raise Sam as their own biological son. Their plan is to let Sam have a normal childhood, and then smuggle him out of their region before his eighteenth birthday. Dean loved his little brother from the start. But as Dean got older, he realized that he might love Sammy more than just a brother. But how could that be? Wolves who shared the same DNA couldn't be mates.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I found this story in my documents folder. When I first wrote it I didn't plan on letting anyone read it. It was just a story for me to play around with and see where it went. But now that I've made some changes to it I decided to post it here. It isn't completed yet, but I have written a lot. 
> 
> Please let me know if you want more, and also let me know what you thought about it. Posting a new story is kind of nerve-racking. 
> 
> And also, have a nice weekend. :)

John Winchester kept kneading his stomach to keep it from growling. He had been out on border patrol the entire day, and he hadn’t had a chance to eat. Ever since the attack carried out by The Northern Wolves three weeks ago, their Pack Alpha had decided to increase their defence. Instead of just keeping a few guards by the border during the night, their Pack Alpha had given out the order that their borders were never going to be left unguarded. They now had alphas patrolling the border all day long. So far they were short on trained guard alphas, and the shortage meant that John had to work long shifts without breaks. 

He shifted back to his wolf form and started running along the border. It was late December, and even though it was winter, the weather was still nice. The Southern pack territory was known for its mild winters. John ran along the border for almost two hours without stopping, but when he felt how he was only getting weaker and weaker, he realized that it was time to take a break. He had grown up in the Southern pack territory, and he knew exactly where to find water. There was a small lake nearby, and it hadn’t frozen yet. 

Tired and sore, John dove into the lake. The cold water felt good, and he allowed himself to soak in it for a couple of minutes. Just as he was about to leave the water his sensitive ears picked up a faint sound that he wouldn’t have heard if he hadn’t been in his wolf form. It was the sound of an infant crying. John was a new father himself, and he had heard that same sound numerous times over the past nine months. Although, he could tell the difference between a pup crying and a human baby crying, and the cries definitely came from the latter. It was a piercing cry, and pups tended to sound more like they were howling when they cried. So it was definitely a human baby. The strange thing was that the only house nearby was empty, and had been so for years. Curiosity got the best of John and he decided to follow the sound, and see who the new tenants were. 

As he got closer to the house, he decided to shift to his human form. He put some clothes on and tried to make himself look presentable enough to greet the new tenants. He figured that his human form would be less intimidating to the humans. He hadn’t seen the house in years, and he was shocked to see what a horrible condition it was in. The windows were smashed, and the walls looked like they weren’t going to hold up the house much longer. For a second John wondered if his ears had led him to the wrong place, but then he heard the baby crying again. The door wasn’t fully closed, so John cautiously opened it and slowly stepped inside the house. The place reeked with vomit and other unpleasant things, and John had to cover his sensitive nose. He stepped over broken furniture, old newspapers, and broken glass. The crying came from upstairs, and John wasted no time, he rushed up the stairs. The house was clearly abandoned, no one would come to the baby’s aid. John knew that he had to take matters into his own hands. 

Unfortunately, abandoned babies weren’t unheard of. Ten years ago, a new law had passed. It stated that humans were free to live alongside the wolves. Their Pack Alpha had no other choice but to let humans live on wolves’ land. Since then, John had studied the humans’ behaviour. He quickly discovered that sometimes humans abandoned their babies. Sometimes there were relatives who could take care of the baby, but sometimes the human babies were placed in wolf families. 

It would never cease to amaze John how the humans could abandon their own offspring like that. He followed the sound to what looked like a bedroom. There, in the corner of the room, was a crib, and in that crib John could see a screaming baby. 

He immediately rushed over, and just when he was about to pick up the baby, he noticed something that made the tiny hairs on his neck stand. The baby wasn’t human. It was a pup. A werewolf. It was the shape and the colour of the eyes that gave the little one away. Werewolves’ have what some would describe as a golden glimmer in their eyes. 

The fact that the pup was in its human for was perfectly normal. A lot of pups didn’t shift until they were at least three years old. 

John picked up the pup and cradled it in his arms. The pup’s face was completely red, and tears were running down its cheeks. John tried his best to soothe the pup while he checked for any signs of injuries. John breathed out a sigh in relief when he didn’t find any scrapes or bruises. At least the little one wasn’t hurt. 

The entire room reeked with vomit and faeces, and John noted that the pup’s diaper definitely needed to be changed. He looked around the room for any clues to whom the little pup belonged to. But he came up with nothing. There were no personal belongings in the room, nothing that indicated that someone had been living there. 

The pup looked like a new-born, couldn’t be more than a couple of weeks old. John couldn’t believe how anyone could be so cruel to the little one. 

John slowly rocked the pup as he walked around in search for clues. The pup was in a lot of distress, so John figured that he needed to get out of there. He had to bring the pup home with him. His mate was a nurse, and she’d be able to find any internal injuries, if there were any. 

………………..

“I’ve made your favourite, chicken parmesan,” Mary called out from the kitchen when she heard the front door being opened. She wiped off her hands on her apron, and turned off the stove. “John?” she said when she didn’t get a reply from her mate. 

Seconds later, John appeared in the doorframe to the kitchen. He was holding a bundle of blankets in his arms, and Mary curiously moved closer. 

When the blankets started to cry, Mary froze. “What is that John?”

John motioned for her to come closer, and when she saw the tiny little pup her eyes widened in shock. “Whose pup is that? I don’t recognize them, and I have held every new-born pup in town.”

“Found him in an abandoned house Mary. He was alone and crying, thought he was a human baby at first,” John said as he slowly rocked the pup. 

“He can’t be abandoned, it’s impossible,” Mary exclaimed. 

“He was,” John stated. 

“We need to get him changed and fed,” Mary rationalized. She took the little one right out of her mate’s arms. “Any injuries?” 

“None that I can see,” John said.

“I’ll take a closer look at him,” Mary said. 

\--

An hour later, the little pup had been bathed, changed and fed, and was now sleeping peacefully in Mary’s arms. She had been relieved when she didn’t find any injuries. 

“We should call the Pack Alpha, he’ll know what to do,” John said. 

Mary gently caressed the little one’s soft cheek with her finger. “Who knows what will happen to him?” she wondered out loud. 

“A family member will take care of him,” John tried to comfort his mate. 

“We don’t even know which family he belongs to, what if-,“ Mary stopped mid-sentence when she heard her son’s loud wails coming from upstairs.

Nine-month-old Dean had woken up from his nap, and his cries woke up the pup in Mary’s arms. 

“Here,” Mary said and handed over the little one in her arms to John, “take him, while I’ll go take care of Dean.” 

\--

“There, there,” Mary stroked Dean’s back. “All better.” Dean looked up at her with his big, green eyes. 

John appeared in the doorframe with the abandoned little pup. “He won’t stop crying,” John said as he rocked the little one. 

“Let me take him,” Mary said and took the little one in her free arm. 

But then an amazing thing happened. The little one quieted down and looked at Dean. The boys curiously looked at each other. Dean reached out and touched the other little pup’s belly. 

“Would you look at that?” John said, astounded. 

“They like each other,” Mary whispered. She leaned down and kissed both boys’ heads. 

…………….

“On pack land?” the Pack Alpha, Jason Richardson, asked. 

“Yes Alpha,” John answered. “I found the pup, abandoned, in an old house, over by Lake South.”

It was the first time that John had seen the otherwise strong and stoic Alpha in shock. They had called their Pack Alpha less than twenty minutes ago, and he had dropped everything when he had heard about the abandoned pup. He had even brought along Dr Miller with him to examine the pup.

“An abandoned pup?” the Pack Alpha mumbled to himself as he sat down on one of the chairs in the Winchester’s kitchen. “And you found him today?”

John nodded. “Do we have any records of the family that used to live there?” he asked. 

“The house has been vacant for years,” the Alpha spoke, “If there was a family living there recently, then they haven’t registered with neither me, nor the council.”

John took a seat opposite their Pack Alpha. Neither alpha said a word as they waited for Dr Miller to finish up his exam. 

“The pup doesn’t suffer from any injuries or infections,” Dr Miller said as he walked into the kitchen. He pulled off his latex gloves. “I can’t tell his exact age, but not older than a week I’d say.”

Both John and Alpha Richardson nodded. 

“My mate and I are quite fond of the little pup,” John said, “We don’t mind keeping him until you track down his biological family members.”

“Thank you John,” the Alpha said, “I will try to locate the pup’s family. I’ll contact you when I’ve found them.”

“Bring the pup over to the hospital tomorrow, and I’ll try to see if any member of the staff recognizes him,” Dr Miller said. “Not many pups have been delivered in the last week, so chances are high that someone will recognize him.”

John nodded and saw both men out the door. 

………..

Mary patted the little pup on his back until he let out a small burp. “There, all better,” she smiled. “You were quite hungry, weren’t you?” 

She looked into the pup’s hazel eyes. “You look like a Sam,” she smiled. “That’s what I’m going to call you.”

…………..

Weeks passed, and not a word from the council or the Pack Alpha. It turned out that finding Sam’s family was harder than anyone had expected. No one knew anything about the family that had been living in the abandoned house in the woods. And the no one at their local hospital recognized Sam, so he couldn’t have been born there.

For each week that passed, Mary’s hopes were raised. She secretly hoped that the council wouldn’t find Sam’s family. She felt ashamed to hope for something like that, but she loved Sam and wanted to keep him, and raise him as her own son. 

John was concerned, because he saw how much his mate liked Sam, and John knew that Mary would be devastated the day Sam’s family would come to pick up Sam. 

But one morning, the doorbell rang, and when Mary opened the door her first instinct was to scream and cry, because on the other side of the door stood their Pack Alpha, and he had brought along a pair of werewolves with him. Mary had never seen those werewolves before, so she naturally assumed that they were Sam’s family members. 

John put his arm around his mate. “It’s going to be fine, he’s going to be fine,” he tried to soothe her. 

John had been wrong. It was not going to be fine. 

They all sat down in the dining room. Mary couldn’t stop crying, but what was most shocking was that the Pack Alpha looked sad too. 

“We haven’t been able to find the pup’s family-“, The Pack Alpha started.

“His name is Sam,” Mary bravely interrupted the Alpha. She didn’t want anyone to think that the pup didn’t have a name, not when she had named him herself. 

“We haven’t been able to find Sam’s family,” the Alpha corrected himself, ”No one at our hospital recognizes him,” he shook his head and quickly glanced at the wolves who had come with him before he continued, “This is Hannah Johnson and Robert Jones, they work at Family Services in the north. Since we, here in the south, don’t have Family Services, we are forced to rely on the North to handle cases like this one,” he angrily muttered. 

“They attacked us just a few months ago, why should we cooperate with them?” John spat out. 

“That was barely an attack,” Robert Jones snarled. 

“One of my guard wolves was hurt,” John yelled in rage. 

“I don’t like this anymore than you do John, but we have to follow the law, and the law clearly states that the North should handle cases like this one,” the Alpha placed a comforting hand on John’s shoulder. The law had been written back when the North and the South were friends. 

John growled at the wolves from the North. 

“There is something else,” the Alpha said, “When Dr Miller examined Sam for the second time, at the hospital, he did an ultrasound and it showed that Sam is an Omega.”

John and Mary both let out a gasp. Omegas were exceptionally rare. Only one in one hundred thousand pups born turned out to be an omega. Omegas were known for being extremely affectionate, and they tended to make excellent mates. They were also naturally submissive, which was why they were so popular among alphas. A lot of alphas wanted to mate with an omega simply because they wanted to have a mate that easily submitted to them. 

Omegas were also known to be able to produce lots of pups. Most betas could only get pregnant once every five years, but an omega could easily get pregnant right after he or she had delivered a pup. The alpha wouldn’t have to wait five years or so to be able to get their mate pregnant again. 

Also, omegas went through long heats. The heats were amazing for their alphas since they got to knot their mate several times. 

“Dr Miller is absolutely certain, Sam is an Omega,” the Alpha said. “And these vultures here,” he growled at Hannah and Robert, “have something they want to say.”

Hannah snorted, “According to the law, an Omega has to be placed in the region that has the smallest population. Here in the South, you have a pretty big population, while we in the North have smaller one. We are hoping that the Omega pup will increase our population.”

“You are going to find a mate who will keep him pregnant all year around, aren’t you?!” John yelled. “That is not going to happen!” 

“No, they want to sell him,” Mary spoke up. “And they are using the law of population as an excuse, aren’t you?!” she was seething with anger. 

“Sell him?” both the Alpha and John didn’t understand what Mary was talking about. 

“I worked at an Omega shelter for a year when I was nineteen, and I know how much an omega is worth. I’ve worked with omegas who have escaped from their alphas,” Mary cried. Selling an omega was against the law, unfortunately it happened anyways. The alphas who bought omegas were rich, powerful and had a lot of influence in both the werewolf community and among humans. So far, no one had managed to put such powerful alphas behind bars.

Robert Jones cleared his throat. “This is nonsense!” 

“Omegas get sold to rich alphas, and that’s what they’re going to do to Sam,” Mary stood up on shakily legs, “I can tell when someone is lying and I don’t believe your bullshit for a second. You are not taking my son away from me!” she yelled.

“You can yell as much as you want beta,” Robert said, and he and Hannah stood up, “But we have the law on our side, and you don’t.”

“You will, however, get to keep the omega until he is eighteen years old,” Hannah interjected. 

“That’s only because, right now, he has no value to you evil creatures,” Mary hissed. An omega usually went through their first heat when they were eighteen, until then they couldn’t be mated. 

John clenched his fists and stood up. “We will keep Sam. You will never get him!”

Hannah snorted. “We will see about that. You can’t run anywhere. We have guards patrolling the borders at all times, all ready to arrest you if you make an attempt to flee. See you in eighteen years Mr Winchester,” she said before she left with Robert.

……….

No matter how much Mary tried to teach the boys how to say ‘Momma’, Dean’s first word was ‘Sam’, and Sam’s first words was ‘Dean’, although it was more like ‘Dewn’ to be honest. ‘Momma’ came later though. 

…………..

“Dewn,” two-year-old Sammy cried. He was alone, and stuck in his crib. He hadn’t quite mastered the art of escaping like his older brother had. Dean knew how to get out of the crib on his own, without anyone picking him up, and he was currently playing on the floor with a couple of stuffed animals. It was night time, and even though both boys were supposed to be asleep, none of them were sleepy at the moment. Their small moon-shaped nightlight cast a beautiful glow to the room. 

“Sam pay,” Dean said and held up the stuffed bunny. He wanted to play with his little brother. 

Sam only cried harder because he couldn’t get out. Dean looked deep in thought, well as deep in thought as a two and a half-year-old could be. When he was done thinking he started to climb, and after several long minutes, he was inside Sam’s crib. 

“Dewn!” Sam happily exclaimed and threw his arms around his older brother. Dean gladly returned the hug. About a minute later, the boys had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. 

When Mary and John came into the nursery in the morning they were both shocked. 

“How did he manage to climb in there?” Mary asked and looked down at her sleeping boys. 

John was worried, because he already thought that the boys were too close. They weren’t close in a sibling kind of way, no, it was like they were already mated. He had often caught the boys looking fondly at each other, and sometimes even cuddling. Most pups weren’t interested in cuddling with anyone but their parents, siblings were just meant to be wrestled with and play attack with. Young alphas, especially, were known to be more interested in attacking rather than cuddling their siblings. Dean, however, had never, not even once, attacked Sam. Instead Mary and John often found Dean cleaning Sam, or nuzzling him. 

John knew that they couldn’t let the boys take things any further. It was time to keep them as much separated as possible, it was for the boys’ own good. Sam and Dean had to believe that they were biological siblings. 

Already at the age of two and a half, Dean was a strong little alpha. John decided that it was time for Dean to join in on hunts. Even though Dean was still too young to even catch a fish on his own, he could come along and watch. The important thing was that Dean would be away from home, and away from Sam. 

They tried to keep the boys separated as much as possible for two weeks but during that time they realized that their plan had failed. It didn’t make the boys want to spend any less time together, it only made things worse. They got extremely clingy to each other and cried loudly every time John tried to take Dean out for hunts. 

It broke Mary’s heart to see her little pups so upset, so she caved and just let them be, at least for now. They would have to do something about it later though. Because if they felt something more for each other then it would ruin the plan that Mary and John had come up with. 

Because Sam was an omega, he’d send out extra strong pheromones once he went into heat. The guard wolves from the North would definitely catch the scent. To prevent that from happening, Mary and John had decided that they would get Sam started on illegal heat suppressants on his tenth birthday, if they started earlier Sam could have a bad reaction. The next part of their plan would be to smuggle Sam out of their region to somewhere far, far away where Hannah and Robert couldn’t find him. Since both Mary and John wanted their son to have a normal childhood, they had both decided to keep Sam for as long as possible. Sam would leave after graduation. 

But their plan would fail if Dean bonded with Sam. Inbreeding didn’t exist within the wolf community due to one simple reason, two wolves who shared the same DNA could never bond. It was impossible. But Sam and Dean weren’t related by blood, and if they were true bond mates then there would be no heat suppressant in the world that would keep Sam from going into heat. 

True bond mates were rare. True bond mates shared a strong bond that appeared early on. As much as Mary wanted to deny it, she had seen how close her boys were. She knew that there would be a day where she would have to send her oldest son away. If bond mates stayed away from each other it would make their bond weaker. 

It was their only option. Dean could always find Sam later, once Sam was safe. The Northern pack would never allow a mating between Sam and Dean. They wouldn’t make any profit out of that. 

Sam’s happiness wasn’t worth a cent to Hannah and Robert and the rest of the Northern pack. 

They had to stick to their plan and let the boys believe that they were biological siblings. Technically they could be siblings since werewolf pregnancies only lasted six months. 

Mary wiped her tears and prayed that her sons wouldn’t hate her once they found out that she had lied to them. She only wanted what was best for them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so much for all the lovely feedback! I'm so glad you liked the first chapter, hopefully you'll like chapter two as well. I don't really have a posting schedule. I've already written a lot, but the chapters that I've written aren't ready to be posted. A lot of the things that I've written don't make sense right now (I didn't plan on posting this story), so I have to re-write some parts. 
> 
> Anyways, here is chapter two. Hope you'll like it. The boys grow up fast, I won't speed through their teenage years though. The boys are in the same grade since they are born in the same year.

5 and 6

“I don’t wanna go,” Dean growled. It was the six-year-old’s first day of school, and he wasn’t happy about it. Not at all. 

Sam, however, had woken up with a smile on his face, and he had happily gotten dressed and packed his own backpack. He was more than ready for his first day of school. 

“Don’t growl at you mother son,” John scolded his oldest son.

Dean immediately looked apologetic. “Sorry momma,” he said. 

“It’s alright darling,” Mary stroked her son’s hair. “But you still have to go to school.”

“But I wanna run in the woods, and catch fish and dig for worms,” Dean whined. 

Mary tried a different technique, “But who are you going to do all of those things with? Sam is going to be in school.”

Dean hadn’t thought about that. He turned to Sam, “Do you wanna go to school?” he asked. 

Sam blushed and shuffled his feet. “Yeah, maybe. I think it’ll be fun.”

“I’ll go because Sam wants to, but I’m not going to have fun,” Dean decided. 

Mary could barely contain her laughter. “That’s good enough for me.”

School turned out to be quite fun after all. Dean learned how to write his own name, and the teacher even let him write it on a card to Sam. Of course, watching Sam receive the card was the best part of it all. Sam had thrown his arms around Dean and thanked him profusely. 

………….

8 and 9

A flash of lightning, followed by a loud rumble of thunder made Sam cry out for help. He wrapped the comforter around him and hugged his knees to his chest. 

Help was on its way. Sam could hear the sound of Dean’s feet running down the hall. A moment later Dean appeared in the doorframe to Sam’s bedroom. The boys had shared the same bedroom up until two weeks ago when they had had their first big fight. Sam thought that Dean’s stuff took up too much space of the room, he also thought that Dean was too messy. Dean, on the other hand, thought that Sam’s stuff took up too much space of the room. Sam argued that his books, dolls and stuffed animals were pretty, while Dean’s bows and arrows were ugly. Dean had moved out. It had been a very big protest for an nine-year-old, and he was pretty damn proud of himself for making such a big statement. 

But Dean didn’t feel so proud of himself now. He should’ve known better than to leave Sammy alone. Sam had always been afraid of the thunder. “I’m here Sammy,” Dean climbed into Sam’s bed, and wrapped his arms around the younger boy. 

“Don’t leave,” Sam pleaded, “You’re not messy and your stuff is not ugly.”

“I won’t leave,” Dean promised. 

The next day they moved all of Dean’s stuff back into his and Sam’s bedroom. 

……….

Another thing happened that year. Sam started to make time for his friends outside of school. Both boys had their own set of friends, but they only hung out with them in school. It was kind of like an unspoken agreement that Sam and Dean spent their time together after school. It had always just been the two of them. But lately Sam had started to play with their classmates Olivia and Connor McAllister after school. Olivia and Connor were siblings. Olivia was a beta and Connor was an alpha. 

“What are you doing?” Dean asked as he watched Sam stuff his backpack full of clothes. 

“I’m packing,” Sam smiled. “Olivia and Connor invited me over for a sleepover.” 

Dean all of a sudden felt very angry, and he was nine, he didn’t even know how to hide that anger, so he just let it all out. Just the thought of Sam spending time with another alpha made Dean’s hackles rise. “Why?” he snapped. He wanted to know why Sam would even want to have a sleepover with that stupid Connor boy. He didn’t want Sam to spend one minute at the McAllister’s place. 

Sam looked sad. “I thought it’d be fun. Olivia said it’d be fun,” he mumbled guiltily. 

“If Olivia said it’d be fun to jump off a cliff, would you jump?” Dean crossed his arms over his chest. 

Sam’s bottom lip started to tremble. “Don’t say that.”

Seeing Sam so visibly upset broke Dean’s heart. “I’m sorry Sammy,” Dean apologized. He wrapped his arms around his younger brother.

“I can stay home, and we can have fun,” Sam mumbled into Dean’s neck. 

Dean could feel his heart starting to beat faster. “Really?” the happiness was bubbling up inside of him. 

Sam nodded. From that moment on, Sam never accepted any invitations to sleepovers. 

…………..

11 and 12

“I’m gonna go fishing after school. My dad said he’ll take me,” Stan grinned big. 

“Mhmm,” twelve-year-old Dean mumbled absentmindedly. They had recess, and he and his friend Stan had decided to climb on top of the roof of their school building. From there they could see everything. Although Dean was only interested in one thing – Sam. His omega brother was running around and playing some game with his friends. Sam’s cheeks were rosy and his laugh could be heard all the way up to the rooftop. Dean didn’t know why he felt the need to follow his brother’s every move when Sam wasn’t even in danger. Three weeks ago Dean’s fangs had grown out. It was kind of a big deal, at least that’s what his father had said. His father had said that Dean was now a real alpha. Dean still didn’t know what that meant. All he knew was that he had gotten more protective of his little brother. 

“I think he’s finally going to teach me how to hunt,” Stan proudly declared. “He always says I’m too little, but I told him last week that you have been hunting with your dad for years now.” 

Stan stopped talking and looked at Dean expectantly. When Dean remained silent, Stan huffed something. 

Only then did Dean turn to look at his friend. “Did you say something?”

Stan snorted. “What do you care? You only care about your stupid brother.”

Dean saw red. “Don’t call Sammy stupid,” he bared his fangs. 

Stan’s eyes widened in panic. “De-an?” his voice trembled with fear. 

“Sammy is not stupid,” Dean growled. 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry,” Stan apologized as he crawled backwards. 

Seeing his own friend so physically scared of him made something twist and turn inside Dean’s stomach. What was happening to him? 

………….

12 and 13

“You can’t catch me!” twelve-year-old Sam shouted out with glee as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. They were in their human forms, because Sam wanted Dean to chase him, and not the other way around. Dean was like an energizer bunny in his wolf form, and even though Sam was fast, he could never keep up with Dean. In their human forms, they seemed to be more on the same level.

Dean was right behind. The sound of the boys’ laughter echoed through the woods. 

Sam giggled and looked back at his older brother.

Dean had grown up to become a fine alpha, fast and strong. Therefore, he could easily catch up with Sam if he wanted to, but he was kind enough to let Sam take the lead. 

Sam was also fast and strong, especially for an omega. During the years, their parents had always told their omega son that he could do anything that he wanted to do. They had taught him not to let the fact that he was an omega stop him from doing things that usually only alphas did. 

Sam knew how to throw a ball, make a fire with his bare hands, and he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. Most families kept their betas and omegas at home, and prepared them for their role as future homemakers. The Winchesters, however, weren’t the most stereotypical werewolf family. Sure, Mary stayed at home with the pups while John went to work. But John wasn’t the leader of the household like most alphas were, no, he was comfortable with letting his mate rule the household. 

As much as Sam loved playing outside with his brother Dean, he also enjoyed staying at home and sew, cook and take care of Rosie. 

Four-month-old Rosie was the newest addition to the Winchester family. Dean thought that Rosie was cute when she wasn’t crying, and sometimes he even played with her, but he still thought that she was kind of boring, she couldn’t even crawl. 

Sam, however, loved and adored little Rosie. He enjoyed taking care of her, and the omega in him really shone through when he was with her. Like most omegas, he was a natural with young pups. 

Dean decided that he was done chasing Sam. He was only thirteen, patience wasn’t his strong side. “Got ya!” Dean happily exclaimed and wrapped his arms around Sam from behind. 

Sam playfully squirmed in Dean’s arms, but he wasn’t really trying to break free from Dean’s hold. “Dean!” Sam playfully growled as Dean gently tackled him to the ground. 

“Say it!” Dean ordered and laughed at the same time as he hovered over the younger boy. “Say it!” Dean repeated the order and pinned Sam’s wrists to the ground. 

Sam only laughed at Dean’s attempts to sound stern. 

“Dean is the best alpha in the world,” Sam said the words he knew the alpha wanted to hear. Dean was far from modest. 

Usually Dean released Sam after he had said those words, but this time Dean didn’t move. Instead he just stayed in his position and looked down at Sam.

“Dean?” Sam asked in confusion. “What’s wrong?” 

All of Dean’s senses was heightened now that they were this close. He could feel Sam’s warm breath. Dean’s sense of smell suddenly became a lot stronger, and he suddenly noticed how sweet Sam’s scent was. Sam smelt like cotton candy and cinnamon, like freshly cut grass and flowers. Dean’s head was spinning. Something was thrumming in his body, a need to have Sam. Dean didn’t know how or why. He just knew that he needed the younger boy. 

Sam’s neck was exposed, and Dean couldn’t stop staring at it. It was mesmerizing and it drew him in. All that smooth and soft skin. Dean would just have to lean down, bare his fangs and bite into it.

Dean violently shook his head. What was he thinking? Siblings didn’t bite each other like that. 

“Dean, what’s wrong?” Sam asked.

Dean didn’t know what to say. Telling Sam the truth wasn’t an option. But Dean had never been able to look his brother in the eye and lie to him. 

Sam sat up and suddenly they were face to face, and Dean couldn’t stop looking at his little brother’s neck. Dean was thirteen, he had had “the talk”. He knew that there was only one reason why an alpha wanted to bite an omega, and it was to claim the omega as theirs. Last year Colby Parker had showed up to school with a mating scar on his neck, and Dillon Rhodes had proudly declared to everyone that he had put it there. Everyone had been ecstatic for the boys. Since they had found each other at such a young age, it could only mean one thing, it meant that they were true bond mates. Destined to be together. They hadn’t gone any further than the mark. The bond wouldn’t be completed until Colby turned eighteen and went into his first heat. 

No one would throw a celebration party if Dean bit his own little brother. His parents would disown him, and he’d probably get kicked out of home. Maybe even banished from the community. 

“I have to go,” Dean mumbled and scrambled to his feet.

“Dean?” Sam found his older brother’s behavior strange. 

Dean took a few steps back and then quickly shifted into his wolf form. That had been a mistake. The need to bite Sam became even stronger now that Dean was in his wolf form. Dean’s skin felt too tight, and he wanted to crawl out of it. It was like he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

He had to get away from Sam. 

Sam stood up on wobbly feet, but before he even got the chance to talk to Dean, the older boy sprinted off. 

“Dean?!” Sam called out, but the alpha showed no signs of stopping. 

Sam shifted into his wolf form and sprinted after Dean. Unfortunately Sam was nowhere near as fast as Dean, and trying to keep up with the alpha was exhausting. 

Runrunrun Dean’s mind screamed. He didn’t know where he was running, but he knew that he lost Sam somewhere along the way. 

Scared and confused Dean collapsed in a clearing in the woods. He fell down and landed on his back, and as he looked up at the sky that was now turning grey he couldn’t help but let out a choked sob. He was a freak. An abomination. He wanted to bite his own little brother. What would his mom say if she found out? What would his dad say? But, most importantly, what would Sam say? 

Dean sat up and hugged his knees to his chest. His body started shaking and he couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. He wanted to mark Sam, his own brother. 

“Oh god,” Dean cried. . 

He knew that the mark was just the first step towards a full mating. He had had sex ed. Granted he was no expert on the subject, but he did know how two werewolves had sex. The sickness rose inside of him. A mating was a sacred act between two lovers. Not something you did with your little brother. 

Dean didn’t know how he was supposed to face Sam again. 

……

The sky had turned dark when Dean left the clearing. He walked home with heavy steps. Home had always been the greatest place in the world, his sanctuary. How quickly that had changed. Dean dreaded going home and facing Sammy. 

But he knew that he had to go home. 

His mother greeted him at the door when he got home. She looked pale, and Dean could tell that she had been crying. His first instinct was to run. Sam must’ve figured it all out and told their mother how sick and twisted Dean was. How Dean had looked at Sam's neck. Dean’s heart was beating faster. This was it. He’d get disowned.

But his mother just wrapped her arms around him tightly and cried into his shoulder. 

“Where have you been?” she cried and hugged Dean closer to her body. 

Sam appeared behind their mother, and Dean could see that he too had tear-stained cheeks. Sam trudged closer, and cautiously wrapped his arms around Dean. 

Mary pulled back slightly and wiped her eyes. “I have to go call your father, he’s out there looking for you. He has gathered an entire search team. What were you thinking Dean? Do you know how dangerous it is out there?” 

Unable to form words, Dean just shook his head. 

“You and I are going to talk later,” Mary said before she went off to find her phone. 

“I was so scared Dean,” Sam mumbled into Dean’s shoulder. 

Sam was warm and wonderful and Dean wanted nothing more than to just draw the younger boy in. But he couldn’t do that, so he did the exact opposite. “Stop being a baby,” Dean said and pulled back. “I can take care of myself Sam.”

The younger boy looked hurt. Dean felt sick to his stomach, the last thing he wanted to do was hurting Sammy. 

…….

John came home an hour later. Dean was sitting by the kitchen table, and he stared down at the table, unable to look his own father in the eyes. He had expected his dad to yell at him, so he was surprised when his father hugged him. 

“Are you okay son?” John asked. 

Dean nodded. 

“Good,” John nodded, “We’ll talk tomorrow. Get some sleep son.”

……

Dean had hoped that Sam would be asleep when he opened to door to their bedroom. Unfortunately Sam was still up. 

Sam didn’t say anything, he just sat there, on the edge of his bed, patiently waiting for Dean to say something. 

Without saying a word, Dean went over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of sleeping pants, he avoided Sam’s watchful gaze as he went inside their bathroom and picked up his toothbrush. He grabbed a few other things as well, as a tube of toothpaste and a small towel. 

“Dean?” Sam asked impatiently as Dean came back into their bedroom.

Dean remained silent as he clutched his toiletries to his chest. There was no way he could sleep in the same room as Sam. Dean walked out of their bedroom with Sam in tow. They had a guest room down the hall and Dean quickly decided that he was going to claim that room as his. 

“Dean, what are you doing? Where are you going?” Sam asked in confusion when Dean walked into their guest bedroom. 

“I want my own room,” Dean said. 

“But…but we have a room. We’ve always shared a room,” Sam’s bottom lip quivered. 

Dean couldn’t even look at his brother, his heart was breaking on the inside. “We’re older now, we can’t share a bedroom forever Sam.”

“But..” Sam reached out to touch his brother’s arm, but Dean just took a step back.

“Go back to your own room Sam,” Dean told his younger brother. 

Sam looked down. 

“I said go to your room,” Dean raised his voice. 

That did it. Sam left. 

Dean’s knees buckled and he fell to the floor. He let out a silent sob and it didn’t take long until he started crying silently.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your lovely comments and thank you for all the kudos :)
> 
> Here's chapter three, hope you'll enjoy it.
> 
> Update: I edited the chapter only a couple of minutes or so after I posted it. I only made a few small (yet significant) changes.

“Dean, do you want to tell us what happened yesterday?” John asked his oldest son. It was early in the morning and Sam was still asleep. Both Mary and John figured that it’d be best to talk to their oldest in private. So far no one had touched their breakfast plates, and Dean’s eyes darted all over the room. 

“Not really,” Dean mumbled while he drew some invisible patterns on the table with his fingers. 

John let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. When Sam had showed up at home saying that Dean had run off somewhere, John had damn near lost his mind. The woods weren’t safe after dark. The tension between the North and the South was only getting thicker, and lately there had been some attacks. Two lone wolves from the North had started it, and some wolves from the South had retaliated by launching a real attack without their pack alpha’s knowledge. Needless to say their pack alpha hadn’t been pleased with the wolves’ initiative. 

“I know that there’s something you’re not telling us,” Mary touched her son’s cheek. “But I’m not going to interrogate you. Just promise you won’t do it again.”

Dean’s eyes widened in shock. He hadn’t expected to be let off the hook so easily. 

“But-“John quickly protested. 

“No buts,” Mary cut her mate off. “The important thing here is that Dean is safe, and that he promises to never do something like this ever again.”

John nodded in response. He had always trusted his mate, and if she said to let it go, then that’s what he’ll do. 

“I promise momma,” Dean said and hoped that he sounded sincere. In all honesty, he didn’t know whether or not he could make that promise. Lately all he wanted to do was flee. 

But both his parents nodded, so Dean figured that he must’ve done something right. 

Just when Dean was about to dig into his breakfast, Sam came trudging down the stairs, rubbing the last vestiges of sleep out of his eyes. Sam yawned and stretched his hands over his head. When he noticed Dean he all of a sudden looked hesitant whether he should enter the kitchen or not. Dean all of a sudden felt a strong urge to run away again. 

“Come eat your breakfast Sam, and don't forget to take your vitamins,” their father said. 

Sam hesitated before he finally walked down the last couple of steps and into the kitchen. He walked over to the cupboard and grabbed his jar or pills and filled up a glass of water. 

Dean jammed his fork into his bacon and eggs. His appetite was gone and he silently wondered how he was going to eat everything that was on his plate. 

Sam looked like a kicked puppy when he took a seat at the table, and his gaze nervously flickered towards Dean every now and then. 

Dean refused to look his brother in the eye. It was for the best. Everything Dean did was for Sam’s own good, why couldn't Sam just understand that?

The rest of the breakfast was eaten in silence. Well, Mary and John exchanged a few words, but other than that it was mostly silent. Dean could practically feel Sam staring at him, but he kept his eyes trained on his plate. 

As much as Dean wanted to walk to school alone, he didn’t want to let Sam walk alone. Sam was fast and strong, but he didn’t know how to fight or how to defend himself. Defence class was optional for betas and omegas, and Sam had chosen to skip it so he could spend his time writing for the school paper instead. 

There had always been tension between the North and the South, but there hadn’t been any real attacks in the last ten years or so. Not until recently. Sam hadn’t thought that a defence class was necessary. After the attacks, the woods weren’t as safe as they used to be. 

Dean knew that he had to be there to defend his younger brother, he couldn’t bear the thought of anyone hurting Sammy. So Dean waited patiently outside their house for Sam to get ready. 

“Sorry, couldn’t find my History book,” Sam apologized when he came outside. He closed their front door behind him. 

Dean just shrugged. Sam nervously bit his lip. 

They walked together in silence. It was a fifteen minute walk to school, and Dean knew that his younger brother would never be able to stay quiet much longer. Dean had been surprised that Sam had been able to stay quiet during breakfast. Sam had always been the talkative one. The one who could charm everyone with his words. Dean wasn’t exactly a quiet one, but he wasn’t a little chatterbox like his brother. 

“I, uh,” Sam bit his lip.

Dean felt a pang of guilt. He had done that. He had ruined their relationship. Sam didn’t even know how to talk to him anymore, and Dean felt like an asshole. 

“I missed you last night,” Sam said and looked at Dean. 

Dean wanted to tell Sammy that he had missed him too. That he had laid there in the darkness, unable to sleep because he didn’t know how to sleep without his brother right there in the bed next to his. But of course, he didn’t say that. Instead he just hummed something in return. 

Sam’s eyes widened in surprise. “Forget it,” he snorted. 

“What?” Dean asked. Why was Sam pissed off now? Dean had barely even said anything, how could he possibly have annoyed Sam?

“I tell you that I’ve missed you and you say ‘mhm’?” Sam mimicked Dean’s voice. 

“What do you want me to say?” Dean snapped. If only Sam knew how damn hard Dean was trying to just exist near Sam. How difficult it was to function when nothing felt right anymore. 

“I dunno,” Sam raised his voice, “Something. Like why you moved out of our room. Why you just left me yesterday and ran off.” 

“Stop bugging me,” was all Dean managed to say. 

Sam sat down on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“What are you doing?” Dean groaned. He neither had the time nor the energy to deal with one of Sam’s hissy fits. “We have to get to school,” he reminded the omega.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Sam pouted. “You can go, and I’ll come later.”

“Stop being a baby,” Dean was struggling to keep to keep his voice even so that he wouldn’t just lose his temper and yell things he’d end up regretting later. 

“I’m not a baby! Don’t call me that!” Sam yelled. 

Well, if Sam could yell, then so could Dean. Dean was done being nice. 

“I can when you act like one,” Dean threw back.

“Just go,” Sam said, he was done yelling, and now he mostly just sounded weak and hurt. 

“Sam come on,” Dean pleaded. “We have to go together. You know that.” Unfortunately, Sam wasn’t moving. “You can get attacked!” Dean exclaimed. Why would Sam want to risk that? It wasn’t like Sam to be that stubborn. 

“Don’t care. Just go,” Sam said.

Dean was running out of ideas on what to do. Leaving Sam alone in the middle of the woods was not an option, but Dean wasn’t going to beg, no, he was above that. So he did the only thing he could think of, he leaned down and picked up Sam and carried him bridal style. 

At first Sam was too shocked to protest, but after the initial shock had worn off he started to squirm in Dean’s arms. 

“Put me down!” Sam ordered. 

Dean didn’t bother to reply to that. Sam wasn’t exactly easy to carry, he squirmed worse than a toddler. Dean might be strong, but carrying a squirming Sam was definitely a struggle. 

Finally Sam just gave in and stopped struggling. They both knew that Sam could’ve gone further, he could’ve bit, scratched and kicked Dean, but he didn’t. They had never physically harmed each other. They simply didn’t want to. It was unusual and most werewolves had never seen anything like it. 

Dean remembered when they were little, they couldn’t have been more than five years old, and they had Uncle Bobby over. Bobby had tried to teach them how to fight and wrestle each other, but neither Sam nor Dean had wanted to do that. Sam had even cried when Uncle Bobby had told him to bite Dean. 

 

Learning how to fight had been important to Dean, but he had just practiced on his friends instead of Sammy. 

Dean tightened his hold on Sam, but he refused to look at him, instead he just kept his eyes trained on the road ahead of him. 

“You can put me down. I’ll walk on my own,” Sam said so quietly that Dean had to strain his ears to hear him.

With a quick nod, Dean carefully released his hold on Sam. 

Sam looked like he wanted to say something, but then decided not to, so they spent the rest of their walk to school in silence. 

……….

Colby was fifteen and mated to a possessive alpha. Dean knew that it was crazy and not to mention stupid to approach him, but he had to. They didn’t exactly have that many mated couples under the age of eighteen in their pack. Colby was Dean’s only option if he wanted to talk to a young mated omega. Dean hoped and prayed that Colby’s mate, Dillon, wouldn’t attack him. 

Dean took a deep breath before he walked up to Colby and his two friends who were sitting on the grass just outside their school building and eating their lunches, they were all engaged in a conversation, talking and laughing, but they all stopped and looked up when Dean came up to them. 

“Can we help you?” Colby was the first to speak. He didn’t look hostile, just genuinely curious. 

“Yeah, I, uh,” Dean swallowed nervously as he looked around to make sure Dillon wasn’t nearby. Dillon wasn’t an asshole, but he was crazy attached to his mate, and didn’t want any other alphas around him. 

Colby looked at Dean expectantly, and Dean knew that he couldn’t chicken out now. He had come this far. Dean gathered up some courage. 

“I was wondering if I could talk to you,” Dean said and hoped that he didn’t sound as scared as he felt, “Alone,” he added. 

Colby’s friends, both beta girls looked confused. Colby let out a small laugh. “Okay?” he frowned. 

Of course Colby would be surprised, he and Dean weren’t exactly friends, and Colby was two years older and mated, Dean had no business talking to him. 

As if the situation wasn’t painful enough, Dean could see Dillon Rhodes walking up to them. Great, he thought sarcastically. 

Dillon Rhodes wasn’t exactly small either, and Dean knew that he’d never stand a chance if Dillon choose to attack him. Dean also knew that Dillon had the law on his side. An alpha had every right to attack another alpha who approached his or her mate in an inappropriate manner. Not that Dean had done anything inappropriate, but Dillon’s dad was the leader of the guard wolves and best friends with their pack Alpha, and that meant that Dillon would be able to get away with basically anything. Dean was not scared, and he was definitely not shaking. It was just cold outside, and he was shivering. Nothing wrong with that he told himself. 

“Something wrong?” Dillon asked and stared right into Dean’s eyes. 

“Stop it, he’s a little kid,” Colby told his mate. 

Normally, Dean would’ve been insulted by that. He was not a little kid, he was taller and broader than the average thirteen-year-old, but this time he would have to make an exception. If Colby wanted to take his side, then Dean was more than fine with that. 

Dillon still looked way to tense for Dean’s liking. 

Colby stood up and leaned back against his mate’s broad chest. That seemed to calm the alpha slightly. 

Dillon wrapped his arms around Colby from behind, and without breaking eye-contact with Dean, Dillon leaned down and kissed the mating scar on Colby’s neck. Dean knew that it was Dillon’s way of politely showing Dean exactly whom Colby belonged to. 

Colby just laughed and shook his head. “Ignore him,” he told Dean before he turned to his friends. “Girls, I’ll see you in class.”

The girls got the hint and grabbed their lunch bags and left. 

“You wanted to talk to me about something,” Colby reminded Dean once the girls were out of earshot. “I can’t get rid of this one,” Colby gestured towards his mate, who let out a grunt in return, “But what is it that you need to talk to me about?”

They only had twenty left of their lunch break, and Dean knew that he’d never be able to ask Colby all the questions that he needed in those twenty minutes.

“I wanted to talk to you because you’re mated,” Dean spoke up. 

Both Dillon and Colby frowned. 

“I think I’ve found, uh, my mate,” Dean stared down at the ground, “But he doesn’t like me like that. Uh, I, uhm, so I’m just wondering, was it like that for you too? Did you feel the bond later?” he looked up at Colby while he nervously awaited the omega’s answer. 

“You mean you want to know whether it’s normal for the alpha to feel the bond and not the omega or the beta?” Colby asked. 

Dean nodded wildly. That was exactly what he meant. He wanted to know if Sam would like him too eventually. Dean already felt like a freak for falling for his own brother, but he wanted to know if there was the slightest possibility that Sam was a freak too, and then they could be freaks together. 

“I definitely felt the bond,” Colby answered truthfully. “Sure, Dillon might’ve been the first one to do something about it,” he touched his mating scar, “But we both wanted this. It’s not like he had to fight me or anything. I bared my neck to him because I wanted him.”

It wasn’t the answer Dean wanted to hear. He had been hoping that the alpha would be the only one feeling the bond at first, and that the omega would just catch on later. 

“Are you sure he’s your mate?” Dillon asked in a gentle tone. Now that he knew that Dean didn’t pose a threat, he seemed much more relaxed. 

“His scent is different to everyone else’s,” Dean bit his lip, “And I want to bite him,” he added.

Both Colby and Dillon looked too stunned to talk. 

“And you’re telling me that he doesn’t feel anything?” Colby asked incredulously once regained his ability to speak. 

“Kid, you’ve found your Bond mate, you’re supposed to be all over each other,” Dillon said. 

Dean blushed, he knew what Dillon was talking about. Dean couldn’t even picture himself kissing Sam. It was a forbidden, dangerous thought, and Dean thought that it was best not to go there and torture himself since the real thing was never going to happen. 

“Have you told him how you feel?” Colby asked.

Dean shook his head. 

“Why not?” Dillon looked at Dean as if he were crazy. “Tell him, when he finds out he’s your Bond mate he’ll be ecstatic. All betas and omegas want to mate young. It’s like their main goal in life.”

“What?” Colby spat out and glared at his mate. “I have other life goals. I want to go to college, I want to be a teacher.”

“Of course babe,” Dillon soothed his mate, “I just mean that betas and omegas want to get mated when they’re young, but a lot of alphas feel tied down if they mate young,” he explained. “But I never felt like that. I wanted to mate young. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Please don’t be mad at me,” he rushed out and gave his mate a pleading look. 

“Don’t worry, I still love you,” Colby told his mate before he turned back to Dean, “As much as I hate to admit it, Dillon’s right. I planned my wedding when I was five. Your mate has probably done the same thing. Just tell him.”

If only they knew the truth, Dean thought. “I can’t,” he said. 

“You can’t mate with anyone else, and neither can he,” Dillon stated bluntly. 

That would’ve been true if Sam was a beta. Omegas were rare, so of course Dillon and Colby had assumed that Dean’s bond mate was a beta. Dean knew that he couldn’t correct them since here were only eight omegas in their pack, and all of them were mated except for Sam and sixteen-year-old Ally. 

If an alpha had a true bond mate then that alpha could never bond with anyone else but his or her true bond mate. The omega, on the other hand, would be able to mate with another alpha if, for some reason, the alpha and the omega couldn’t be together. But only if the alpha and the omega hadn’t had pups together. No one really knew why. One explanation was that back in the days when there was always a war going on, many alphas had died in a battle, and their omegas were left alone and without any pups. Omegas were the ones who produced the most pups within a pack, and the pack relied on them to keep their pack big and strong. A small pack could die out if their omega didn’t produce any pups. And that’s why omegas who had lost their alphas could mate again and have pups with another alpha, it was to ensure that their pack didn’t die out. 

Werewolves had only lived in peace with each other for less than fifty years. It was in a pack’s nature to fight with other packs. Werewolves, mainly alphas, were built to fight. But fifty-something years ago, every pack got assigned to a region, and werewolves no longer had to fight each other for territory. But the omegas’ biology hadn’t changed just because there was peace within the wolf community all of a sudden. 

Last year an omega named Mindy had shocked everyone when she had mated with a new alpha after her bond mate had been sent to prison. Mindy had been harassed by several members of their pack. They had called her a traitorous bitch for not standing by her mate. But Mindy wanted pups, and her bond mate faced a long sentence. She couldn’t wait for him. 

“Don’t you want a family? Pups?” Colby asked. 

Dean hadn’t even thought about that. Pups were cute, but he couldn’t picture himself as a father. But he knew how badly Sam wanted pups, and he also knew that he and Sam would never be able to have pups together. Dean was no expert on Biology, and he never paid attention in class, but he was pretty sure siblings weren't supposed to have pups together.

“Maybe he’ll feel it later,” Colby tried to sound positive. 

“Look, I’m gonna be real here,” Dillon, ever the realist, said, “Dean, what you need to do now is bite your bond mate and claim him.”

Colby elbowed his mate in the side. 

Dean shook his head wildly, he’d never do that to Sam, not without his consent. 

“Why the hell not? He’ll feel the bond once you bite him,” Dillon exclaimed. 

“I’m sure Dean respects his bond mate too much to do that,” Colby glared at his alpha. 

“Do you have a better idea?” Dillon asked his mate. 

Colby thought about it for a while before he turned to Dean. “My mom worked at an omega shelter when she was younger, and she met omegas who had escaped from their abusive alphas.”

Dean let out a gasp, and so did Dillon. Dean couldn’t believe what Colby was saying, why would anyone harm their mate? “But an alpha can’t hurt his omega,” Dean said. 

“Are you sure your mom said that?” Dillon asked his mate. “Because I could never hurt you.”

“My mom says that there are assholes out there who buys omegas and treat them like trash,” Colby said and blushed at his own words, he knew that he wasn’t supposed to use words like that. 

Dean’s eyes widened. “They can buy an omega?” This was all new to him. 

“Mhmm,” Colby nodded. “But all of the omegas at the shelter found new alphas, nicer alphas, later, and some of the omegas even found their true bond mates. But my mom says that it took a long time for the omegas to trust alphas again, so the alphas really had to work for it. She also said that it’s because when something bad happens to an omega, he or she can’t feel their bond to their true bond mate immediately.”

“But Dean’s bond mate is a beta, not an omega,” Dillon reminded his mate. 

“Maybe it’s the same with betas,” Colby shrugged. “Maybe something bad happened to your mate when he was really little, and that’s why he can’t feel the bond.”

Dean wanted to laugh out loud, but he kept his mouth shut. He was doomed. Sam had never had anything bad happened to him. Their parents had always showered them with love, and Dean had made sure to protect Sam from all evil in the world. Dean had been there to hold Sam’s hand during thunderstorms, scary movies and everything else that scared Sam. 

“We have to get to class,” Colby said and Dean snapped out of his haze and nodded. 

“Take care kid,” Dillon said and placed a comforting hand on Dean’s shoulder. 

Dean walked to class with heavy steps. He was a stupid, abnormal freak who had fallen in love with his own little brother. He hated himself for even thinking that pure, innocent Sam was a freak too. Sam would never feel the same way about him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As usual I want to start off by saying thank you to my lovely readers. I read all of your comments (and they honestly make me blush). I'm so glad I have your support. Thank you so much.

“They are no miracle pills Mary,” John said as he watched his mate empty a new jar of vitamin pills and replace them with heat suppressants. 

“I know,” Mary agreed. She put the lid back on the jar and placed it on the table so Sam wouldn’t forget to take what he thought was his vitamin pills with his breakfast. “But Dr Miller prescribed them, so they must do some good.”

For two years they had let their youngest son take heat suppressants in hopes that it would put off his heat. Sometimes omegas went into heat early, especially if they had a true bond mate nearby. Mary knew that Sam wouldn’t go into heat as early as twelve, but he could go into heat at the age of sixteen. With heat suppressants it was best to start early and let the omega’s body slowly get accustomed to the pills. They would have to gradually increase Sam’s dose as he got older. 

“We have to do something Mary, you know that we can’t just go on like this,” John argued. 

“I’m not sending either of my babies away,” Mary sternly told her mate. 

“Sam might not feel the bond because of the pills we’re feeding him, but Dean feels it,” John said. “He’s hurting Mary. I see the way he looks at Sam, and it’s doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Dean probably hates himself by now.”

Mary leaned back against the kitchen counter and let out a sigh. She had hoped that they would have a couple of more years until they had to have this discussion. In her heart she had always known that her boys were true bond mates. She had seen the way they looked at each other, how close they were, and how protective they were of each other. Lately, Sam and Dean’s relationship had become strained, and Mary knew why. Dean had started to realize that his feelings towards his brother weren’t strictly platonic. If Sam hadn’t been on heat suppressants, he would’ve felt the bond too. Unfortunately, there was no equivalent for heat suppressants for alphas. There was nothing Mary could give to Dean that would make Dean feel better. Dean would always feel the bond while Sam wouldn’t, not as long as he was taking his pills every day. 

“I don’t want to send Dean away either,” John had to take a deep breath to compose himself, “But I’ve spoken to Bobby and he said that he’ll take him in. I’m not saying that we should let Dean move in with Bobby permanently, but you know, maybe we should let Dean spend his weekends there. Let the boy breathe a little. He’s always on edge here.”

Mary found herself nodding. Bobby Singer was an old family friend, and they had trusted him enough to tell him the truth about Sam. Bobby’s mate Ellen Harvelle had also been filled in on the situation, and she had promised to keep quiet about it. 

“Maybe it’ll be good for him,” Mary wiped away a tear from her cheek, “He’ll get to spend some time with Jo, she’s probably the only one who can keep up with him,” she laughed through her tears. 

Ellen Harvelle had a daughter from a previous mating. Fourteen-year-old Jo Harvelle was like an energizer bunny, feisty and quick just like Dean. Sam had always been too calm to keep up with his older brother, so maybe Dean would hit it off with Jo. They could form a beautiful friendship. 

“I have to leave for work, but I’ll call Bobby and Ellen first, and see if they want to come over for dinner later,” John said and glanced up the stairs, he knew that his sons would come running down the stairs any minute now. 

“You do that,” Mary hummed and started to wipe off the already spotless kitchen counter. She needed something to occupy herself with, otherwise she’d go crazy. Dean was her baby, and just the thought of him spending an entire weekend away from home made her feel devastated. 

A couple of minutes later, Dean came barrelling down the stairs with Sam in tow. Mary put on her best smile and reminded her youngest son to take his special omega vitamins. Sam did so without any protest. During breakfast Dean kept his eyes trained on his plate in front of him, and Mary knew why. She knew that Dean couldn’t bear to look his younger brother in the eye. 

“Bobby and Ellen might come over for dinner later today,” Mary said while her boys cleared off the breakfast table. 

“Is Jo coming too?” Dean lit up. He had only met the girl a few times, since Bobby’s and Ellen’s mating was pretty new, but he already thought that she was super cool. He hated to admit it, but she could run as fast as him, and it had been fun to get some real competition. Sam never wanted to run with Dean in their wolf forms. Sam always complained that Dean was too fast for him. 

“Maybe,” Mary winked. 

“Why does she have to come?” Sam whined. 

“Sam don’t be rude,” Mary scolded her son. “When we have guests over it is our job to make them feel welcome.”

“But she doesn’t want to play with me, she only wants to do alpha stuff with Dean,” Sam protested. 

“That’s because she is an alpha,” Dean simply said. 

“But you’re an alpha too, and you do stuff with me. You even played with dolls just cos I asked you to,” Sam said. 

Dean blushed. “Sam, I told you not to talk about that ever again!”

“Why not?” Sam wondered. “We had fun.”

“I didn’t think it was fun, I only did it because you wanted to,” Dean protested. 

Sam crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. “You said you had fun.”

“Boys,” Mary decided to cut in and put a stop to her sons’ argument. “Enough,” she warned. “Eat up, and go to school.”

“Yes Momma,” both boys replied in unison. 

The baby monitor came to life, and Rosie’s piercing cries were heard loud and clear. 

“I can go,” Sam offered.

“No,” Mary laughed. “She’s my responsibility. Not yours,” she said before she rushed upstairs to her daughter. 

Dean glanced at his younger brother. “You’ll make a good parent one day.”

Sam blushed. “You think so?” 

Dean shrugged, and hoped that his brother couldn’t see right through him. The compliment was his way of starting a conversation about pups, he specifically wanted to know whether Sam could be happy without them. Because Dean knew that he and Sam could never start their own family, because that would be inbreeding. 

After talking to Colby and Dillon the day before, Dean knew that there was still hope. Something bad could’ve happened to Sam when they were really young, something that Dean wouldn’t remember. Maybe an attack. The Northern pack was famous for their spontaneous attacks, and they didn’t care whether they attacked an adult or a young pup. Dean wished from the bottom of his heart that his brother had never been put through anything that bad, but if he had, that could be the explanation to why he didn’t feel the bond between them. 

“You think you could be happy without pups?” Dean asked. Their pack would always be full of young pups, and wolves believed in the whole ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. It wasn’t unusual for wolves to help each other out by taking care of each other’s pups. Maybe Dean and Sam could help raise other couples’ pups. That way they would always have a house full of pups even though they couldn’t have any biological pups. 

Sam cocked his head to the side. “What do you mean?” 

Dean shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” He didn’t know how to respond to his brother’s question. 

“But-“

“Just forget about it,” Dean cut Sam off. 

They finished the rest of their breakfast in silence. 

On their way to school, Dean knew that he had to do something. He had to start treating Sam nicely, that way Sam might start to feel the bond. Dean remembered what Colby had said, how it took a lot of time and effort to gain a hurt omega’s trust. 

“I, uh, I was wondering,” Dean hated how insecure he sounded. How his usual confidence was just gone all of a sudden.

Sam looked at him, waiting for his to continue. 

“Do you want to do something later, after school?” Dean finally got the right words out. 

Sam’s whole face lit up. “Yeah.”

“We could, uh, go to the movies. We can ask mom if she can take us there,” Dean said and hoped that Sam couldn’t hear how his heart pounded in his chest. 

Sam nodded wildly and reached out and took Dean’s hand in his. Dean smiled tightly. Holding Sam’s hand was a real struggle. Dean had to suppress his inner wolf, who wanted nothing more than pull Sam closer and bite him. 

Dean didn’t know how the hell he was supposed to be able to make Sam fall in love with him when the slightest skin contact between them burned like fire. In reality, Dean knew that Sam’s hand wasn’t that warm, but it sure felt like it. Dean could practically feel Sam’s hand burning in his own. 

When they arrived at their school and Sam had to let go of his brother’s hand, Dean finally felt like he could breathe again. 

…….

“So how fast can you shift?” Jo narrowed his eyes at Dean, who was sitting next to her at the dinner table. Their parents always placed them next to each other, that way they could keep a close eye on them at all times. Their parents had made the mistake of separating them once, and that resulted in Dean and Jo throwing food at each other from across the table. Needless to say, their parents decided that from that moment and on, Jo and Dean would be seated next to each other. 

“Faster than you,” Dean threw back, he knew how cocky he sounded, but it was Jo, they never talked politely to each other. 

“Oh, it’s on. After dinner, I’m going to prove you wrong sucker,” Jo kept up their usual banter. 

Ellen and Mary just shook their heads, while Bobby and John tried to contain their laughter. 

“Can we just have one dinner together where we all get along?” Ellen asked. 

“Sure,” Jo answered sweetly, before she turned back to Dean. “Right after I kick Dean’s ass.”

Ellen let out a groan. 

This was usually how their dinners went, and today was no exception. Both Jo and Dean were extremely competitive, they could compete about even the smallest things, like who could pass the salt the quickest when Mary had asked if anyone could pass her the salt only a few minutes ago. 

Dean tried not to smirk, he loved how he could argue with Jo without her getting hurt. He was exhausted from being overly nice to Sam all day, and right now he needed an outlet. With Jo he could be on his worst behaviour and she loved it, because she was the same. Jo was mean and treated him like crap, but deep down he knew that she would save his ass if he ever needed her. 

“You wish,” Dean snorted. 

“I thought we were going to the movies,” Sam whined. Jo wasn’t supposed to come, she was supposed to stay home, so he and Dean could go to the movies together. 

“Sorry Sam,” Dean said, but he didn’t look sorry at all as he growled at Jo one second later. 

Sam felt hurt. Dean had been so distant lately, and Sam had been over the moon when Dean himself had suggested that they should spend some time together and go to the movies. But then that stupid Jo had to show up, and steal Dean away from him. 

Two alphas could mate, it was rare, but it did happen every once in a while. Sam watched as Dean and Jo kept up their playful banter, and he felt something ache inside his heart. Sam knew that Dean would want to mate one day, he just hoped that Dean would never take Jo as his mate. 

“We should fight,” Jo straightforwardly told Dean. 

Dean laughed. “You’re a girl. I don’t fight with girls.”

Bobby let out a heavy sigh. “He shouldn’t have said that.”

Ellen nodded in agreement. 

Jo narrowed her eyes at Dean and looked downright vicious. “I’m an alpha,” she reminded him. 

“I still don’t fight with girls,” Dean kept his ground. 

Jo’s fangs grew out. “You and me. After dinner. I’m going to show you exactly what this ‘girl’ can do.”

Dean smirked, he was done being a gentleman. If Jo wanted a fight, then a fight is what she’ll get. 

“Should we be scared?” Mary whispered to Ellen. 

Ellen shook her head. “It’ll be a nasty fight, but I’ve seen Dean fight with other alphas before. He can take it. Besides, maybe losing will do him some good. It’ll make him stronger.”

Dean wanted to growl, but he knew that his mother would never forgive him if he growled at one of her friends, so he kept his mouth shut. But he was not going to lose, na-ah. He was still a gentleman after all, so he would go easy on Jo, but he refused to lose. 

Half-an-hour later, when the adults had finally finished talking, their dinner was over. It was time to fight. 

Dean pulled off his shirt and threw it on the ground. They had all moved outside. The open lawn outside the Winchesters’ house was the perfect spot for Dean and Jo to fight without ruining Mary’s precious roses. Dean had fallen into his mother’s precious roses once during a fight with Stan, and getting those thorns out of his fur had been a real bitch. 

“You don’t have to do this,” Sam said in a small voice. 

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” Dean snorted.

“You’ve never fought her before. You’ve only run with her. She’s a monster Dean,” Sam exclaimed. “She tore Andrew Collins to pieces!” 

“Good,” Dean smirked. His friends were strong, but he always had the upper hand. At first that had been fun, but he wanted some real competition. 

“It took a week for him to heal,” Sam grabbed Dean’s arm. 

“Good. He’s a prick, that’s what he is,” Dean said. “Now turn around,” he told Sam.

Sam looked at his older brother in confusion. “What for?” 

“I’m gonna take the rest of my clothes off,” Dean started to unbutton his pants. 

“Like I haven’t seen you naked before,” Sam mumbled, but he still obediently turned around. 

They had seen each other naked before. Many times. But things had changed, and Dean didn’t think that it was appropriate for them to be naked around each other anymore. Not since Dean wanted to sink his fangs into Sam’s skin and claim him as his. 

Dean pulled off the rest of his clothes and shifted into his wolf form. 

Jo appeared, in her wold form, from behind one of the bushes since she had wanted to change in privacy. 

They were pretty much the same size. Dean hadn’t been expecting that. The last time he had seen her in her wolf form, she had been slightly smaller than him. This was better, he wanted the real competition. 

They were true contrasts. Jo was long and slender, while Dean had a more stockier built. Jo’s fur was dark, while Dean’s was almost white. 

“Good luck,” Sam whispered and kissed Dean on the nose. Dean had never been happier to be in his wolf form, because wolves can’t blush. If he had been in his human form, he would've been as red as a tomato. 

Dean gave Sam a quick nod before he turned towards Jo and started walking up to her. Dean and Jo circled each other for a while before the real fight started. Jo made the first move, she lunged for Dean, who had already anticipated her move. Dean ducked before he lunged at her. It was on. 

Sam covered his eyes, he could hear how Dean and Jo growled, and he could even feel the vibrations from the ground. Dean and Jo might be young, but they were both forceful wolves, heavy enough to make the ground shake. 

Sam shakily moved one of his hands slightly to the side so he could get a glimpse of what was going on. 

“Dean?” Sam whispered when he noticed that his brother’s white fur had spots of blood on it. Jo looked just as bad, it looked like Dean had bitten her more than a couple of times. Neither Dean nor Jo showed any signs of stopping, they lunged at each other, bit each other and tackled each other. Sam could barely see anything, the tears in his eyes fogged his vision. He blinked a couple of times just in time to see Dean fall to the ground with a heavy thud. “De-an?” Sam’s voice broke as he called out for his older brother. 

Bobby must’ve decided that enough was enough, because he shifted into his wolf form and stopped the fight. Sam had never felt so relieved. He rushed over to his brother. Dean slowly stood up on wobbly legs, and Sam could tell that one of Dean’s back legs was hurting real bad. 

“That is enough, shift back into your human form!” Ellen warned her daughter. 

Jo growled at her mother before she walked away. 

“Dean?” Sam whispered and reached out and touched Dean’s fur. Dean pulled back and let out a whine. 

“Let’s go and get you cleaned up son,” John said to his oldest son. 

Mary looked like she was about to pass out at any second. 

……..

John had taken Dean inside to help him clean up, while Ellen tried to comfort Mary.

“He’s strong, he’ll heal in no time,” Ellen told her friend. 

Sam hugged his mother tighter. He had wanted to come inside and tend to Dean’s wounds, but Dean hadn’t let him, he had even growled at him. 

“You’re right,” Mary dabbed the corners of her eyes with a tissue. She let out a small laugh. “Silly me, getting all teary-eyed.” 

Jo appeared from behind the bushes, this time in her human form. Sam growled at her. 

“Oh please, it was a clean fight. I didn’t even play dirty,” Jo snorted at Sam. 

Sam didn’t care, he hated her.

“Maybe it’s best we go out to dinner next time, and leave the kids at home,” Ellen suggested. 

Mary laughed through her tears. “Maybe so. There are things we need to discuss. In private,” she said and gave Ellen a meaningful look. Ellen nodded in return. Sam didn’t care what they did, just as long as they kept that vicious Jo far away from Dean.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for taking this long, but I'm writing on a thesis, so I can't update this story as often as I want to. But I hope you enjoy this chapter, the ending might be a little abrupt, but hopefully it won't be too abrupt. 
> 
> Thank you for all of the comments and kudos that I received on the last chapter. Your support means so much, so thank you.

“Dean, are you okay in there?” Sam knocked on the bathroom door. 

“Don’t worry kiddo, he’s going to be fine,” John answered from the other side of the door. 

Sam bit his lip. Dean hadn’t even allowed Sam inside the bathroom. Their father was the only one allowed inside. Sam took a seat on the floor right outside the bathroom in case Dean changed his mind and needed his help. 

A couple of minutes later John emerged from the bathroom. He wiped off his hands on a wet towel. Sam scrambled to his feet. 

“Is he okay?” Sam asked and his eyes widened when he noticed that the towel that his father was holding had red blood stains on it. 

John placed a comforting hand on his youngest son’s shoulder, “He’s going to be just fine. One of the wounds has already closed up. Perks of being an alpha. We heal fast. Don’t worry son.”

Sam decided to rebel a little and go inside the bathroom even though Dean didn’t want him there. He let out a gasp when he noticed Dean siting on the edge of the bathtub. Deep wounds marred Dean’s chest, and there was a huge bandage wrapped around his right leg. 

“Dean,” Sam exclaimed when he saw how seriously wounded his brother really was. 

Dean, being Dean, downplayed the whole thing. He shrugged it off and waved his hand. 

Sam reached out to touch Dean’s back, but the older boy instantly pulled back. 

“I was going to make it all better,” Sam felt hurt that Dean would reject him like that. 

They used to have a routine. It was something they came up with when they were maybe five or six years old. Dean used to go out and fight and wrestle with his friends, and when he came back home, Sam always made him feel better. Sam used to kiss all of his wounds and then he’d whisper calming words into Dean’s ear. Dean used to love it. 

But that was then. Things had changed. 

“Please let me,” Sam begged. 

Dean looked down at his hands and took a deep breath. He should’ve known that Sammy wouldn’t give up so fast. 

“Okay,” Dean found himself saying. Because it was Sam, and Dean would give his brother the whole world if he begged him to. 

Sam instantly leaned down and kissed one of the wounds on Dean’s chest. Dean involuntarily shivered. 

“Does it hurt?” Sam whispered when he looked up at Dean. 

Lying was the only option for Dean, so he nodded. He couldn’t exactly tell his little brother that it felt good to be caressed by him. Because that was the truth. Dean felt dizzy, all sorts of emotions were running through his mind. He knew he should tell Sam to leave, because what they were doing was dangerous. Dean was too close to Sam’s neck and he was mesmerized, hypnotized by it. The need to sink his fangs into Sam’s smooth skin suddenly became too strong and Dean stood up and gently pushed back Sam. 

“I wanna go to bed,” Dean declared, he swayed a little on his step and Sam was instantly there to support him, but Dean just waved it off, and said that he was fine. 

Once Dean was alone in the safety of his bedroom he let out a huge breath that he hadn’t realized that he had been holding. 

……

Everything was happening so fast. Sam was running, and all of a sudden Dean appeared right beside him. But Dean couldn’t run as fast as Sam due to his injuries. Sam looked back and noticed that there was a huge monster after them, and the monster was really closing in on them. Dean whimpered and he had to slow down, but the monster only came closer. Sam begged his brother to run faster. The monster came closer and closer….

Sam woke up with a start. He was panting and his heart was beating a mile a minute. He felt disoriented as he looked around his room. It had only been a dream. “It was just a dream,” he said out loud to himself. It calmed his nerves a little, but it wasn’t enough. He had to see Dean, and make sure that he was okay. 

Sam padded across the floor as quietly as he could. He made his way down the hall to Dean’s room and he slowly opened the door to Dean’s bedroom, careful not to disturb the older boy. Dean was sleeping peacefully in his bed, and Sam felt somewhat relieved, but it wasn’t enough. No, Sam needed to be physically close to Dean. 

“Dean?” Sam whispered and lightly shook Dean’s shoulder, careful not to agitate any of the wounds on Dean’s upper body. 

Dean mumbled something incoherent. 

“Dean?” Sam whispered harshly. 

“Whatissit?” Dean mumbled groggily as he blinked a couple of times and allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness. 

“Can I sleep in your bed?” Sam asked and lifted the comforter. 

“What? No!” Dean said, all of a sudden he was wide awake, and he pulled the comforter back. 

Sam’s bottom lip started to quiver. “Why not?” They had slept in the same bed multiple times, what had changed? 

“Sam, there’s no thunder, go back to your own bed,” Dean said. He couldn’t possibly spend the rest of the night lying right next to Sam in a narrow bed. Things would definitely escalate, and Dean was seriously scared that he would bite Sam in his sleep. 

“Please Dean,” Sam begged. 

“No,” Dean stood his ground. He wasn’t going to fall for those puppy eyes again. What had happened in the bathroom was a one-time thing, Dean decided. From now on he’d never fall for Sam’s pleading tone. 

“Please, I just want to be close to you,” Sam whispered.

That line tugged on all of Dean’s heartstrings. Sam might want to be close to him, but not in the way Dean wanted him to be. Dean wanted to fall asleep right next to Sam every night and wake up with him in the morning. But Sam didn’t want that, he’d only ever crawl into Dean’s bed when he wanted to be comforted during a thunderstorm or after a nightmare. 

But damn it, Dean was weak. He found himself nodding. It didn’t matter that Sam didn’t want him, Dean would have to take what he could get. Dean knew that he’d have to stay awake the entire night, but they didn’t have school tomorrow, so it was fine. 

Sam’s whole face lit up and he climbed into the bed. 

Dean knew that it was going to be a long night. But he had always been good at staying awake. He’d just have to put that skill to good use now. 

It didn’t take long for Sam to fall asleep. The moonlight streamed in through a crack in the curtains and it illuminated Sam’s face. Dean couldn’t help but admire his younger brother. Soon, he wouldn’t be the only one admiring Sam’s beautiful face. There would be other wolves, both betas and alphas, competing for Sam’s attention. Dean would chase all of them away of course, but after Sam turned eighteen there really wasn’t much Dean could do. Sam would be free to choose his own mate. 

A mate that wouldn’t be Dean. 

Dean stared up at the ceiling before he turned back to Sam. Slowly Dean leaned over and placed a feather-light kiss on Sam’s cheek. Thankfully, Sam was a heavy sleeper, otherwise Dean never would’ve done what he just did. 

“I love you Sammy,” Dean whispered as quietly as he could. 

…

Dean mumbled something incoherent. He opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times and the first thing he saw was Sam’s face. Oh god, he had fallen asleep. He was supposed to have stayed awake the entire night. 

“Dean?” Sam said.

Dean couldn’t focus on Sam’s voice. He couldn’t focus on anything. How did he fall asleep? Had he bitten Sam? 

“Dean, I have to pee,” Sam whined. 

Dean looked at Sam, and then he looked down and realized why Sam couldn’t just go to the bathroom. Dean’s arm was wrapped tightly around Sam’s middle. Dean wanted to tell his brother that he was sorry, but he couldn’t get the words out, instead he just pulled back and released Sam from his hold, and Sam immediately rushed off to the bathroom. 

Why couldn’t he just have said no when Sam asked if he could sleep in his bed? Dean should’ve known better. Instead he had let Sam into his bed and spooned him. It was a scary feeling, not being able to control your own body. 

It could never happen again. Dean promised himself that he had to start pushing Sam away. His initial plan to court Sam hadn’t worked and Dean knew that he couldn’t continue on with that plan. Because it would ultimately break him if Sam never returned his feelings. 

“No more,” Dean mumbled to himself. 

………..

December came and Sam turned into a teenager. Dean had emptied his piggy bank and bought Sam a necklace. The guy in the jewellery store had said that the oval, flat stone was a symbol of promise. This was Dean’s way of promising Sam that he’d always be there for him, even though Sam would never be his mate. 

So, after dinner, when all of their guests had left, Dean took Sam’s hand in his and led him outside so he could give his younger brother his gift in private. 

“Dean,” Sam’s eyes widened when he opened his present and saw the necklace. “You shouldn’t have,” he knew how expensive those necklaces were. Most of his friends in school had them. There were several different necklaces with pendants made out of stones, all with different meanings. Sam had secretly wanted a necklace too, but he’d never dare to ask his parents for something that expensive. “This must’ve cost a fortune.”

“S’ nothing,” Dean shrugged. 

“Put it on me?” Sam asked and held out the necklace to Dean. 

Dean clasped the chain around Sam’s neck. 

“Thank you,” Sam said and wrapped his arms around his brother. The gift had been a shock to him. Lately, Dean had started to push him away. Sam didn’t know why, but a few months ago, Dean started to spend more time away from home. Sam had complained, but Dean had said that he wanted to play fight with his friends. Sam knew that Dean would want to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a guard wolf. And all guard wolves had to know how to fight, so Sam had accepted Dean’s need to train. 

But then Dean started to visit Bobby more often, sometimes he’d even stay the night. He’d come back home in the morning and talk about Jo, and all of the fun things that they had done. That always made Sam feel left out. 

Sam looked down and admired the beautiful pendant, it was a green, flat stone that glimmered in the sunlight. He looked up and thanked Dean again. 

For some reason, Dean just looked sad. 

“What’s wrong?” Sam reached out and placed his hand on Dean’s knee. 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Dean smiled and shook his head. “Come on, I know where mom hid the candy.”

Sam had gotten so much candy from all of their friends and family that Mary had decided to store some away for later. 

Sam let out a laugh, his brother had always loved sugar. 

……

The next birthday party for Sam happened the day after. The first party had been mostly adults, but the second party was just Sam’s friends. 

“Let’s play a game!” Olivia exclaimed. They were all sitting in Sam’s room. Olivia and her brother Connor had taken the couch, Sam was sitting on his bed, and Dean was sprawled out on the floor. 

“Maybe we should wait for Emma,” Sam said. 

Emma was Sam’s newest friend. They were both in Drama class, and they had bonded over Shakespeare and tights. 

“We should play truth or dare,” Connor said. 

“Yay!” Olivia clapped her hands. 

“I dare you to shut up for five minutes,” Connor told his sister. 

“I hate you. You’re so stupid!” Olivia growled at her brother. 

They all heard the doorbell ring, and Sam was glad that he had an excuse to leave. Connor and Olivia always fought, and they were exhausting to be around. Sam was thankful that he and Dean had never been like that. 

When Sam came back into his room a minute later with Emma in tow, Olivia and Connor were still glaring at each other. 

It was going to be a long party, Sam thought and deeply regretted inviting both siblings over. Separately, Olivia and Connor were great. Together? Not so much. 

……..

“Okay Sam, I dare you to eat flour,” Olivia laughed. They had played truth or dare for the past hour. 

“What? No,” Sam whined. So far he had eaten toothpaste, hand cream and a spoonful of salt and nearly gagged. “Why do I have to eat all of the disgusting stuff?” 

“Okay,” Olivia hummed. “I dare you to kiss someone in this room. Well, not your brother, of course.”

“I’ll eat the flour,” Sam muttered.

“Na-ah,” Olivia protested, “You can’t change your mind now. Kiss someone,” she smiled triumphantly. 

“My mom says that my first kiss is supposed to be with my mate,” Sam told his friend what his mom had taught him. 

“Oh, come on, don’t be such a baby,” Olivia teased him. 

“Yeah, come on Sam, I’ll even spit out my gum before we make out,” Connor winked at him. 

“What makes you think he’ll pick you?” Emma spat out. 

“I’ve known him the longest, of course he’ll pick me,” Connor snarled. “Plus, Sam is an omega, his first kiss should be with an alpha, and not a beta,” he said and glared at Emma. 

Connor and Emma continued to bicker, and Olivia budded in. 

Sam’s heart was starting to beat faster. He wanted to save his first kiss for his mate. He wanted him and his mate to share that special moment together. 

“Enough!” Dean snapped and everyone in the room turned silent. Sam noticed how angry his brother looked. Dean’s eyes looked feral and he looked like he was ready to attack everyone in the room. “Sam’s not kissing anyone, that’s it.”

“You can’t decide that,” Olivia spat out.

“Yeah,” Connor agreed with his sister for the first time ever. 

Dean stood up. “Okay,” he said calmly. “Anyone who wants to kiss my little brother has to fight me first.”

“I’m out,” Emma said. “I didn’t really want to kiss you Sam, no offense, you’re a good friend and all, but I don’t want to kiss you. I just wanted to make Connor sweat.”

Dean turned to Connor. 

Connor had never been the one to back down from a challenge. “I’ll do it,” he smirked. 

“What?!” Sam exclaimed. “No, I decide who’s going to kiss me. Not you,” he pointed at Connor, “and not you either,” he pointed at Dean. 

Dean ignored his brother. “Come on Connor, this will be fun.”

Two minutes later, the fight was over. Dean had won. Connor was crying, and normally Olivia would’ve jumped at the opportunity to tease her brother mercilessly for crying, but Connor was so badly beaten up that she couldn’t do much other than press a cloth over one of the deeper wounds on her brother's arm. 

Mary was lecturing her oldest son, and John had called for a doctor. 

Sam was in shock. For a second, he had thought that Dean was going to kill Connor. Sure, Sam had seen his brother fight before, but not like this. Never like this.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had some free time on my hands and I wrote this. Thank you for reading and commenting, it means so much to me. :)
> 
> More of Sam in the next chapter.

“You almost killed my friend!” Sam cried. 

Usually his friends never wanted to leave his house, but this time they practically ran out of there, barely even saying goodbye to him. Sam had wanted to apologize for his brother’s behaviour, but no one gave him a chance to. 

Dean washed the dirt off his arms. “I didn’t almost kill your friend, if I wanted to kill him I would’ve,” he rolled his eyes. Sam could be such a drama queen, and so could that stupid Connor boy. Dean had had worse fights when he was just ten years old and he had had bigger wounds than Connor, but Dean had never even shed a tear after a fight. 

“What is wrong with you?” Sam asked. 

“Me? What’s wrong with me?” Dean asked incredulously. “Nothing’s wrong with me. There is something wrong with Connor. He tried to force himself on you if I hadn’t done something about it.”

“He did not!” Sam protested. 

Dean gave him a look that said “really?”

“Okay, what if I wanted to kiss him?” Sam challenged and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You don’t,” Dean decided. 

Sam couldn’t believe the nerve Dean had. How dare he decide what Sam wants and does not want? 

“He won’t even be able to protect you from a beaver,” Dean snorted. “You want a mate that can protect you.”

“You don’t know what I want,” Sam threw back before he turned on his heel and left Dean alone in the bathroom. 

That he was right about, Dean thought. Because Dean had no idea who Sam would want in the future. Since he obviously couldn’t feel the bond to Dean, he’d mate with someone else. Would he choose someone who was Dean’s total opposite? Dean almost wished that he would, at least that way Dean would know that he never even stood the chance even if they hadn’t been related. 

If Sam choose someone who could basically be Dean’s twin when it came to looks and personality, then Dean would just think that if only they hadn’t been siblings. If only they hadn’t shared one string of DNA, then he and Sam would’ve gotten their happily ever after. 

Dean shook his head to clear his thoughts. 

“Son, you and I need to talk,” John said as he walked into the bathroom. He looked his oldest son in the eyes. 

“Connor’s a dickhead,” Dean muttered.

“We don’t use language like that Dean,” John sternly told his son.

“Sorry,” Dean whispered.

“Dean, you have to understand that most alphas your age aren’t as strong as you are. You are strong, fast and you know how to fight. You are in a whole other league than boys like Connor,” John placed a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder. “And I think it’s time that you train with someone who won’t break after a few bites and kicks, don’t you think?”

Dean gave his father a puzzled look. 

John laughed and ruffled his son’s blond mop of hair. “I’ve called Bobby and he wants to train you. You’ll fight with Jo. She might have the upper hand now son, but not for long. What do you say?”

Dean grinned and wildly nodded. 

“That’s my boy. Bobby wants to see you at least three times a week, we’ll decide which days together. That sound alright?” John asked to make sure that his son was still up for it. 

“Three days a week?” Dean asked. He’d get out of the house, he would get the chance to breathe. 

“I know it’s a lot-“ 

“I’ll do it!” Dean said before his father even got the chance to finish his sentence. 

“Atta boy,” John smiled. 

……….

“I heard Connor wanted to kiss Sam,” Mary sighed as she folded the linens before she put them inside their linen closet. 

“No wonder Dean beat the shit out of him,” John mumbled, while he folded a sheet. Everyone knew that Sam wanted to save his first kiss for his mate. Connor had no business trying to mess with Sam’s mind.

“You are hopeless,” Mary playfully rolled her eyes as she watched her mate crumple her precious sheets. 

“At least I’m trying,” John laughed. 

“Did he take the bait?” Mary looked down. 

John took a deep breath, he knew that she meant Dean. They had to get Dean out of the house as much as they could, and sending him off to Bobby’s for training seemed like the perfect option. “Yeah,” John nodded. “He’s excited about it.”

“I’m worried Jo is going to eat him alive,” Mary sat down on the edge of their bed. “She’s been fighting a lot bigger wolves for years, she’s had more experience, and she doesn’t hold back when she fights.”

John sat down next to his mate and put his arms around her, and started to rub circles over her back to calm her. “Don’t worry about that my love. Bobby has promised me that Jo won’t hurt Dean like she did the last time they fought.”

……….

The months passed, and Dean turned fourteen. He decided to spend his birthday at Bobby’s, much to Sam’s dismay. 

“It’s like you live here nowadays,” Sam whined when he and Dean were taking a walk around the pond just outside of Bobby’s house. “I never see you at home anymore.”

Dean kicked at some loose pebbles lying on the ground before him. “S’ not like that. I’m home a lot.”

“No, you’re not. You didn’t even want to spend your birthday at home,” Sam protested. 

“Bobby says that I can get accepted to the guard wolves’ academy this year,” Dean changed the subject. 

Getting accepted at such a young age wasn’t unheard of, but it was definitely rare. Most wolves were at least sixteen when they entered the academy. Of course, no wolf, no matter how talented, would be able to start working before they turned eighteen, but practice could start way earlier than that. 

“You’re leaving school?” Sam’s eyes widened. 

“I’ll still get an education,” Dean shrugged. The guard wolf academy were still going to teach him Maths and English, they just had longer schooldays because of all the physical training.

Sam bit his lip, he was hurt, but he was still proud of Dean. He knew how hard his older brother had worked for that place at the academy. “I’m proud of you Dean.”

Dean smiled. “Thanks Sammy.” He tried to sound casual, but on the inside his heart was beating wildly. Sam was proud of him. 

Sam looked over the pond. “Do you wanna swim?” 

“Sure,” Dean nodded and pulled his shirt off, and when he did Sam let out a loud gasp. 

“Oh god, Dean, you’re hurt,” Sam reached out and touched one of the many scars on Dean’s chest. 

Dean shrugged. They were badges of honour. Jo was an animal, she always put up a good fight. 

Sam couldn’t tear his eyes off all the scars that marred Dean’s chest. There were big ones and small ones, and Sam couldn’t even imagine the fights that Dean had gone through to get all of those scars. “Does mom know?”

“She knows that I fight with Jo,” Dean snorted as he pulled his jeans off. Their mother might not know about all of the scars on his body, but she knew that Dean was training with Jo, and she knew what Jo was capable of. That should be enough. “Come on, last one in!” Dean smirked before he ran into the water. 

“Dean!” Sam whined. “No fair! You always cheat!” 

“

Colby sighed in content and looked up at his mate who was currently massaging his scalp. “Don’t stop,” Colby murmured and rested his head in Dillon’s lap. 

“How do you even get your homework done when you’re together?” Dean half snorted, half laughed at his friends. They were all sitting on the floor in Colby’s bedroom trying to get their homework done. Colby was smart, plus he was a good teacher, so Dean jumped at the opportunity when Colby asked him if he wanted help with his schoolwork. 

A couple of years ago, Dean would’ve turned to Sam for help, but then Dean got the urge to bite his little brother, and after that he figured it’d be best to find another tutor. 

“We actually get more work done if we’re together,” Colby said. Dillon hummed in agreement and leaned down and kissed Colby’s forehead. “If we’re apart I just miss him.”

Dean’s heart ached in his chest, he longed for a relationship like the one his friends had. Theirs was so uncomplicated and it just worked. Smoothly. Dean would never get that. 

“Sorry,” Dillon rushed out when he noticed how Dean’s expression changed from happy to sad in an instant. “Are we making you uncomfortable?”

Dean quickly shook his head. The last thing he wanted was for his friends to tone their relationship down out of pity for him. “Don’t. At least you’re happy.”

Colby reached out and grabbed Dean’s hand. “Still no change?”

“Nope, my bond mate still hasn’t confessed his undying love for me,” Dean muttered sarcastically. 

“If you just told us who it is, we could talk to him,” Dillon offered, and it wasn’t the first time he had made that offer. 

Dean shook his head. Colby and Dillon might be his friends, but they wouldn’t be if Dean told them that he had fallen head over heels for his brother. 

“Stubborn,” Dillon muttered. Dean choose to ignore the older alpha. 

“Give me your notebook, and I’ll take a look at what you’ve done so far,” Colby said to Dean.

Dean wordlessly handed over his notebook. 

Colby made a humming sound as he looked through Dean’s notebook. “You should’ve used division on the first one,” he said. Dean just let out a sigh. He knew that he had a whole lot more errors in there for Colby to correct. 

“The calculus test isn’t that hard if you ask me,” Dillon said. 

The guard wolves’ academy had entrance tests. Every wolf who wanted to enter the academy had to take a calculus test and an English exam. Then there was the physical test that eliminated most wolves. 

Dillon had entered the academy earlier that year. They had asked for him two years ago, but he had declined. He had wanted more time to train. Dean knew that Dillon had skipped out on a lot of training after he had mated with Colby. Like all other bond mates, they had gone through a long honeymoon phase, hell, they were still in that honeymoon phase where they constantly needed each other. 

At least Dean didn’t have to worry about that since he didn’t have a bond mate who could distract him from training. 

“How bad is it?” Dean groaned when Colby started to get a worry-wrinkle in-between his eyebrows as he looked through Dean’s notebook. 

“It’s not that….bad,” Colby said, but Dean could tell that he was lying.

“They won’t even care about your calculus test,” Dillon snorted. “They’ll look at your strength and the way you fight.”

Dean laid down on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. Jo had gotten accepted at the age of fourteen, and Dean knew that she had only completed the physical test and the judges had enrolled her that same day. 

“What if I haven’t trained enough?” Dean said out loud to no one in particular.

Dillon let out a laugh. “All you do is train.”

Dean sat up straight. “Yeah, but I’m younger than everyone else this year, so I have to train more.”

“True,” Dillon agreed. “But you’re training with Bobby. He’s a legend.”

That was true. Bobby was a legend, he had advanced from a guard wolf to a battle wolf in less than a year. The Battle wolves were warriors. If anyone attacked their pack, then their Pack Alpha sent out the Battle wolves to retaliate. 

Bobby had been a battle wolf until he busted his knee six years ago. After that he started to train younger wolves to become Battle wolves. Jo already had her sights set on becoming a Battle wolf. 

Lately, Dean had started to consider becoming one too, but first he had to get accepted to the academy as a guard wolf. 

“I’d say focus on the physical test. There’s gonna be ten other wolves competing for one spot, and they are all willing to kill for it,” Dillon said. “I have the scars to prove it,” he laughed bitterly. 

Dean had seen them. The scars on Dillon’s back after another wolf had brutally attacked him in the fighting rink. Every wolf who wanted to enter the academy had to fight all other components. 

“I heard Lloyd is entering this year, he’ll be easy for you to take out. Dylan is entering too, he’s good, but not as good as you are. Then there is Colin, now he fights dirty, has a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, so you gotta watch out for those,” Colby warned. 

Dean nodded as he tried to remember everything his friend was saying. 

“Here,” Colby gave back the notebook to Dean. 

Dean let out a groan when he noticed how many number he had screwed up. Colby had circled every one of them with his red marker. 

“I’ll see you after school tomorrow,” Colby smiled. “You’re stuck with us.”

Dean smiled back before he grabbed his backpack. “I gotta head home. Have to pick up some clothes and stuff before I head over to Bobby’s.”

“Man, you’ve practically moved in with Bobby and the Harvelles.” Dillon commented. 

“Stop it, you’re worse than my family. They all want me home,” Dean muttered. Sammy was the worst, he bitched about it every time Dean left the house to go to Bobby’s. 

……….

This time was no exception.

“But Dean, I haven’t seen you in forever,” Sam said as he watched his older brother stuff a bag full of clothes. 

“Have you seen my baseball bat?” Dean asked absentmindedly. 

Sam snorted. “I don’t care about your stupid bat.”

“Help me look for it, or leave my room,” Dean snapped. He had spent too much time in the house already, and he was starting to feel the bond to Sam clawing on his insides. Lately, the bond had gotten more persistent than ever. It wanted Dean to claim Sam. 

“I miss you,” Sam whispered as he fiddled with the hem of his shirt.

Sam looked hurt, and Dean wanted to beg his brother not to look at him like that. Dean swallowed past the lump in his throat and he couldn’t even look Sam in the eye as he finished packing his bag. 

Of course Sam followed him around the house like a lost puppy, and he even helped Dean look for his baseball bat. 

Eventually, it was Sam who found the bat underneath the couch, but just when Dean was about to take it from him, Sam pulled back and clutched the bat to his chest. 

“Come on Sam I ain’t got time for this,” Dean sighed. 

Sam shook his head and refused to let go of the bat. “I want you home more,” he told Dean.

Dean was actually planning on doing the opposite. He wanted to ask his parents if he could move in with Bobby and the Harvelles. 

“Sure, I’ll be home more,” Dean lied to get his bat. He wanted to play a game of baseball with Jo, because that was the only sports that he was better than her at. But first he needed his bat.

“You’re lying,” Sam said. 

“Am not,” Dean realized that he sounded like a five-year-old, but he couldn’t help it. 

Sam’s shoulders slumped and he put the bat down. “Why don’t you want to be here?” he asked Dean.

Because I don’t know how to be around you anymore, Dean wanted to say, but he didn’t. “I just wanted to get accepted to the academy,” he said instead. “Bobby is a good tutor.”

“Dad is a guard wolf, he could train you,” Sam said. 

That was a valid point. 

“Dad works long hours, and he’s exhausted when he gets home. Bobby’s retired, he has more time and energy to train me. Plus, I don’t have anyone here to fight with. I need Jo,” Dean argued. 

“You could fight with me,” Sam grinned like he had come up with the best idea ever. 

Dean laughed out loud. 

“What?” Sam snapped. “You’ve been away a lot. A lot has happened. Dad has showed me how to fight. I’ve got some moves you might not know about.”

“I doubt that,” Dean laughed. Sammy was ridiculous for thinking that he even stood a chance in a real fight with Dean. 

“I can fight,” Sam persisted and seriously pouted. 

Dean put his bag down and shrugged off his jacket. “Okay, show me what you’ve got. We’ll do this in our human forms, that way it won’t be over in less than a second,” he smirked. 

“I’m warning you, I’ve had training. You’ll be surprised,” Sam warned. 

Dean just grinned. “How ‘bout I give you a head start?” 

“Don’t need one,” Sam said.

Dean ignored him. “You get ten seconds to try and tackle me and I won’t even fight back.”

Sam accepted that. Dean kept an eye on the clock on the wall as he counted down the ten seconds while Sam struggled to tackle him down to the floor. 

“You’re really trying,” Dean commented with an amused smile as he watched his younger brother try to tackle him to the floor. Dean was barely moving an inch. Sam let out a grunt in return. Sam looked exhausted, his entire face was red and he let out a frustrated sound. 

“And your time is up,” Dean said and quickly picked up Sam before he even got the chance to react. 

“What?” Sam said shocked as Dean dumped him on the couch. Dean had managed to pick him up, and dump him on the couch in just under two seconds. 

Dean took a seat on the edge of the couch. “I’m not gonna fight you Sammy.”

“Are you scared of losing?” Sam joked, he had known from the beginning that he’d never even stand a chance against Dean, but he just wanted Dean around for a little while longer. 

“If anyone could take me down, it’d be you,” Dean wasn’t so sure he was joking. Sam might not be stronger than him, but all Sam would have to do was bat his eyelashes, and Dean would do anything for him. 

Sam scooted closer to Dean and rested his head in Dean’s lap. 

Dean wanted to run. The situation reminded him too much of the situation with Colby and Dillon earlier. How Colby had put his head in Dillon’s lap, and how Dillon had scratched his scalp. 

Subconsciously, Dean started to card his fingers through Sam’s silky strands of hair. Sam let out a sigh in contentment. It was a risky game, Dean knew that. But Sam was so warm, and he smelled so good, and Dean couldn’t resist him. 

“Why did you want to learn how to fight?” Dean asked. 

“I need to protect myself when you’re not around,” Sam said. 

Dean stopped his motions, and Sam let out a whine in protest. “I’m here to protect you. I’ve been walking you to school every day, haven’t I?” 

“Yeah, but if you get into the academy, you won’t be able to walk me home. You’d have training until six or seven every day,” Sam replied. 

“We’ll figure something out if I get in. I’ll talk to my teachers,” Dean decided.

“You’ll get in,” Sam smiled.

“I hope so, but I’m the youngest this year,” Dean knew that he could let his guard down with Sam, and admit that he was scared. 

“They’d be crazy not to accept you,” Sam sat up and looked Dean in the eye. “I was thinking, I could ask mom and dad if I could come with you to Bobby’s house. I don’t want to watch you train with Jo, because the last time I watched that I was scared out of my mind, but we could practice running together. I’m good at that.”

Dean let out a sigh. Bobby’s house was his sanctuary, a place where he could be away from Sam. With Sam there, Dean would just feel the bond clawing at his insides begging him to claim his omega. 

“You don’t want me there,” Sam said when Dean didn't give him a reply. “Why don’t you want me there?” his eyes were brimming with tears as he looked at the alpha.

Dean felt a pang of guilt. “It’s not that. I promise, it’s not that,” he murmured and without thinking he wrapped his arms around Sammy and pulled him close to his chest. 

Big mistake. The bond was going crazy. 

Dean squeezed Sam’s sides. Dean needed to touch, he wanted to touch. He inhaled Sam’s sweet scent and he pulled at the collar of Sam’s shirt so he could see the omega’s neck. 

A voice of sanity in the back of Dean’s mind screamed at him to stop, but the bond kept urging him on. God, Dean would just have to bite Sammy, just one bite, and Dean would be happier than ever. The bond would be satisfied, Sam would be his mate. Dean would never have to watch Sam mate with anyone else. If only Dean…

The voice of sanity won, Dean pulled back and tried to act natural as he smiled at Sammy. “I have to go,” he said and stood up quickly and looked around for his duffle bag. 

Before Sam even got the chance to say anything, Dean rasped out a quick goodbye before he took off.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. I kind of lost interest in writing for a while there. After all the essays, reports and all that I started to resent writing. But now I'm back to my I-love-writing old self. Hopefully I haven't lost all my readers.

Dean was exhausted. He knew that it wouldn’t be long until his legs would give out completely, his leg muscles were already cramping. His mind and body weren’t on the same page. His mind told him to keep on going, whereas his body was on the verge of giving out. Unfortunately, Dean knew that he had to listen to his body. He needed a break. He didn’t even have the energy to find a bench or a chair or something, so he just sat down on the ground, not even caring that his pants got muddy. He had been running, in his human form, for four hours without a single break. Every time he had even thought about taking a break, he had repeated Bobby’s words in his head like a mantra: ‘You can take a break after you’ve been accepted to the Academy’. 

Bobby had supervised him during the first five laps, but after that he had left and Dean had been on his own with nothing but his own willpower to keep him going. 

Sitting down felt nice, but it wasn’t enough. Dean laid down and closed his eyes, he could feel how fast his heart was going. 

“Did I say you could take a break?” Bobby’s deep voice made Dean’s eyes snap open. 

Dean looked up and saw one angry Bobby Singer looking down at him. Dean quickly sat up, but regretted it immediately because his head started to spin from the fast movement. “Sorry,” he quickly mumbled. 

“Do you want to get in or not?” Bobby yelled. 

“I want to get in,” Dean said and slowly tried to stand up, as much as he wanted to speed up his movements, he knew that he might faint if he stood up too quickly. 

“How many laps?” Bobby asked. 

“Twenty-five,” Dean took a deep breath. The first ten laps around the pond behind Bobby’s house had been a breeze, but the last fifteen had been painful to say the least. 

“Jo can do thirty,” Bobby hummed. 

“In what time?” Dean asked through gritted teeth. Now he had to beat her time. 

“Four hours and twenty minutes,” Bobby said calmly. “You have exactly eighteen minutes and fifty-five seconds left if you want to-“

Dean didn’t even bother waiting for Bobby to finish that sentence before he took off. 

……………

Jo looked up from her book the second Dean walked into the kitchen exactly twenty-three minutes later. “Oh my, oh my,” she smirked bashfully. “Look who tried to beat my time and failed.” 

Dean didn’t even meet her gaze. It was enough that he was furious with himself for not completing the last five laps in under twenty minutes, he didn’t need to hear it from Jo too. 

“Bobby isn’t happy,” Jo closed the book she had been reading. “He came down three minutes ago, and expected to see you here. I still don’t know why he thinks so highly of you.”

Dean gritted his teeth. 

“Tell me Dean, do you enjoy losing?” Jo smirked. 

“Enough,” Bobby said as he walked into the kitchen. 

Jo snorted something about how Dean needed Bobby to fight his battles. 

“Jo, I need to speak to Dean,” Bobby said and looked directly into Dean’s eyes. Jo muttered something before she grabbed her book and left the kitchen. 

Dean didn’t say anything, he had no excuse, he should’ve run faster. He should’ve done better. 

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just trying to psych you,” Bobby said, much to Dean’s surprise. Dean had expected the old man to yell. 

“Yeah, it’s working,” Dean huffed. 

“Jo is exceptionally strong and fast. But she has trained for years. Even before I was in the picture. She used to train with her mom. Did you know that Ellen used to be a guard wolf?” Bobby asked. 

Dean shook his head. He didn’t know that Ellen Harvelle used to patrol their boarders. 

“You would’ve been on Jo’s level if you had had the proper training from an early age. It’s a shame your father didn’t start training sooner,” Bobby said.

“Dad wanted it to be my choice. Said he’d start training me once I was old enough to make the decision for myself,” Dean stepped in to defend his dad’s choice. Dean knew that he had told his dad when he was just five years old that he wanted to ‘be just like him’. John had been worried that Dean was too young to understand what being a guard wolf really meant, so they had put off training. 

“You just have to work harder now, that’s all,” Bobby nodded. “Grab a snack, go upstairs and rest for twenty minutes, then come back down and we’ll do push ups. You haven’t put your arm muscles to good use today.”

Dean simply nodded. It was going to be a long day. 

………….

“Keep going!” Bobby yelled. “Five more, then we’ll take a quick break!”

Dean could feel his arms shaking, but he still forced himself to keep going. Push-ups he could do. It was one of the few things he was better than Jo at. Unfortunately, Jo wasn’t even there to see him beat her, but Dean didn’t care. Just knowing that there was something he could beat her at was enough for him. He breathed out and when he inhaled he felt something snap inside of him. It was that scent. His arms gave out and he landed flat on his stomach in the mud. 

“Did I tell you to stop?!” Bobby screamed furiously. “I told you five more and-“ Bobby stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the younger Winchester boy standing on top of the hill, watching them. No wonder Dean’s body had given out. Bobby had been filled in on the situation, he knew that Sam was adopted and that Dean had fallen in love with Sam, who was now on a double dose of heat suppressants. But Dean didn’t know that Bobby knew, so Bobby just acted oblivious, which was easier said than done. 

“Hello Sam!” Bobby waved at Sam. “Come down here.” 

Sam jogged down the hill and was a little out of breath when he came down. “Sorry,” he panted, “didn’t want to interrupt anything.”

‘Well, you did’ Bobby thought and gritted his teeth together. 

Dean stood up and brushed the dirt off his shorts and tank top. “What are you doing here Sammy?”

Sam looked a little hurt, but he was trying his best not to let it show. “Just wanted to see you train,” Sam mumbled. 

Dean knew he should’ve greeted his brother in a more polite way, after all it wasn’t Sam’s fault that Dean had feelings for him. 

Bobby knew that Dean would be useless with Sam around. There was no way Dean could keep doing push-ups with Sam standing right next to him. “Why don’t we take a break?” Bobby suggested and almost laughed at the way Dean’s eyes widened. “Don’t look so shocked son. You need to eat something. Get some fuel into your body.”

Bobby walked up to the house with the two Winchester boys in tow. 

“You’re just in time for dinner,” Ellen said as her mate and the boys walked into the kitchen. “There’s ribs, mash, fries….”

Dean was practically drooling, he was starving. He had trained for hours, and he had only had a few snacks here and there. He turned around and was just about to ask Sam if he was hungry, or if he had already eaten at home, but then he noticed how Sam was staring at him. “Sam, I know I’m muddy, but I’m not going to get washed up before dinner. Ellen and Bobby don’t care.” 

Sam’s cheeks turned a bit pink. Dean raised an eyebrow. “It’s just…. You’ve uhm, you’ve gotten muscles. When did that happen?” Sam reached out and touched Dean’s bicep. Usually, Dean wore long-sleeved shirts, so Sam hadn’t been able to see Dean’s full body transformation. But now that Dean was in a tank top Sam couldn’t stop staring at his brother’s defined muscles. Sam felt like Dean was growing up so fast, with all the training, and then going for the Guard Wolf Academy, whereas Sam was stuck in one place. They used to do everything together, they used to be attached by the hip. Sam couldn’t help but feel like he was losing his best friend. 

“I’ve always had muscles,” Dean shrugged and grabbed a plate and sat down at the table. 

“Not like this,” Sam almost didn’t recognize his brother anymore. Dean looked older, he looked like a fighter, whereas Sam still looked like a little pup. 

“I’ve been working out a lot, that’s all,” Dean shrugged again. 

Sam sat down next to his brother. 

“You didn’t grab a plate,” Dean said. 

Sam shook his head. “I ate before I came over. Mom made spaghetti and meatballs. We missed you.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Dean told him. 

Bobby, Ellen and Jo took a seat at the table, and it didn’t take long before they all started to talk about the Academy, and all the alphas that were competing for a place this year. 

Sam felt like an outsider, he knew nothing about the qualifications tests or the applicants, so he mostly remained quiet, except for when Ellen asked him if he wanted something to drink. When Jo said something funny, Dean let out a booming laughter that shocked Sam. Dean’s laughter used to be softer, but it was definitely not soft now. Sam shouldn’t be surprised, he had noticed how Dean’s voice had gotten deeper and darker lately. It was bound to happen sooner or later, since Dean was an alpha. 

Dean looked happy, and Sam smiled. Dean had been training so hard lately, he deserved to be happy. Sam let out a little laugh when he noticed that there was a streak of mud on the shell of Dean’s ear. Sam grabbed his napkin and dipped it into his glass of water. He placed a steady hand on Dean’s shoulder, “Hold still, you’ve got a little mud on your ear,” Sam smiled and used his wet napkin to wipe it off. 

“Aww,” Jo teased when she noticed how Sam was dabbing Dean’s ear with a napkin. “You are practically like mates. How cute. Hey Sam, maybe you could help Dean cut his food into little pieces,” she laughed. 

Sam smiled, he didn’t mind. Jo was certainly not the first one to comment on how close he and Dean were. They had never been the typical wolf siblings, no they had always been more caring of each other. 

“Sam, knock it off, would you?” Dean spat out. 

Sam felt like he had been punched in the gut. The whole table went silent. Bobby muttered something, and Ellen shook her head. 

“Can we go through one dinner, without the two of you fighting?” Bobby looked between his stepdaughter and Dean. 

“But where is the fun in that?” Jo blew Dean a kiss from across the table. 

Sam was fighting to hold back his tears, he didn’t want to cry in front of everyone. He wished that he wasn’t so damn sensitive, but truthfully, he was hurt by the way Dean had talked to him in front of everyone. “I should go home, uhm, it’s getting late,” he said. He didn’t want to stay. Not when Dean was talking to him like that. 

“We’re not letting you walk home alone Sam, it’s already getting dark,” Ellen said softly. 

“I’ll drive you after we’re done with dinner,” Bobby offered. 

Sam glanced over at Dean, but Dean just looked down at his plate. Sam knew it was stupid, but he had secretly been wishing that Dean would walk him home. “Thank you,” Sam said to Bobby. 

Once everyone was done with dinner, Bobby grabbed his car keys. “Sam, you ready to leave?” 

Sam nodded quickly, he was more than ready to go. “Thanks for having me over,” he said politely before he stood up. He turned to Dean, who was still looking down at his plate. “Bye Dean,” Sam said softly. 

“Bye Sam,” Dean said, but he didn’t look up. 

………

Dean didn’t come home the next day. He called around two o’clock in the afternoon and said that he’d be spending the entire Sunday training with Bobby, and that he’d be home Monday morning instead so he could walk Sam to school. 

Sam had felt so stupid for sitting at home and waiting for his brother to show up. He glanced at his watch at noticed that it was only three o’clock, he still had time to do something fun, he wasn’t going to waste the entire day just because Dean hadn't showed up. 

Sam sent off a quick text to Connor and asked if he and Olivia wanted to catch a movie. Connor texted him back within just a few seconds saying that he was free, but Olivia had already made plans for the day. Sam was sad that Olivia couldn’t make it, but at least Connor was free. 

In his room, Sam bit his lip as he looked at himself in the mirror. His brown hair had gotten a bit longer, and he brushed his bangs to the side. He looked so pale and dull. Dean had gotten a nice tan from being outside so much. Sam didn’t get tanned, he burned. Badly. Fortunately, he liked being indoors, he enjoyed reading his books and watching his cartoons, he enjoyed playing with Rosie, and he enjoyed helping his parents out around the house. Sam couldn’t believe how Dean could spend so much time away from home, how could he not miss his family? 

It wouldn’t take long until Dean left home for good. Sam wondered what kind of a mate his brother would choose. If Dean wanted to get mated at all. Sure, Dean would probably want to get mated somewhere in the future, but he didn’t seem to be interested in dating anyone now. Sam thought back to all of the times where beta girls and boys had come up to him and asked him if he knew whether or not Dean was dating anyone. Sam had always shook his head, because Dean had never dated. There had been times where betas had begged Sam to fix them up with Dean. 

Sam felt ashamed, because when betas had asked him to talk to his brother and put in a good word for them, he had politely told them that he would, but truth to be told, he had never even mentioned any of the betas to Dean. 

Sam didn’t like to be used. He had his true friends, and even if he knew that Olivia had always had a small crush on Dean, she would never tell Sam to put in a good word for her with Dean. Besides, Dean was never home anyways, so Sam couldn’t even talk to his brother about all of the betas that fancied him even if he wanted to. 

It wasn’t like Sam didn’t get looks as well. He knew that he’d have no troubles in finding dates once he was allowed to start dating. But he knew that his dates would have to pass through Dean first. 

Sam opened his wardrobe and selected his best pair of jeans and a shirt that was too bad looking. He had been lounging around all day in his sweats waiting for Dean to come home, so it was kind of nice to put on something else and feel a little dressed up. 

When the doorbell rang a couple of minutes later Sam rushed downstairs. “It’s for me!” he said loud enough for his parents to hear. 

“Should we be worried?” came Mary’s reply from the living room. 

“Are you going on a date son?” came John’s reply, also from the living room. 

“No,” Sam huffed. “It’s just Connor. We’re going to the movies!” 

Sam opened the door and greeted Connor with a smile. 

“Hi,” Connor smiled back. “You look nice,” he commented. 

Sam looked down at his clothes. “Thanks,” he mumbled. 

“Sam, could we talk to you for a second?” John called out from the living room. 

“Come on in Connor, you can wait in the kitchen while I talk to my dad real quick,” Sam ushered his friend inside. 

“What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” Sam asked when he walked into the living room. His parents were sitting on the couch and they were watching an old black-and-white movie. Sam didn’t even know why anyone would watch something in black and white, when there were movies in color. 

“Where are you and Connor going?” John asked in a low voice. That could only mean one thing – he didn’t want Connor to hear what they were talking about. 

“To the movies,” Sam replied in his normal tone. 

John hummed something. 

“Why don’t you let your father drive you there?” Mary smiled. 

“Because it’s a fifteen minute walk, twenty tops,” Sam shrugged. “Me and Dean have walked to the movies a hundred times.” 

“Yeah, well, Dean is Dean,” John said. 

Sam knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. “What is that supposed to mean?” 

Mary grabbed a blanket and folded it neatly. Sam knew that his mother had a habit of spontaneously folding things, or cleaning things when she didn’t want to look him in the eye when she was talking. “The woods are dangerous nowadays, the North can’t be trusted, and we just feel that your brother is better at protecting you than Connor is. That’s all,” Mary said and continued to fold the blanket even though it was already neatly folded. 

“Connor is an alpha,” Sam reminded his parents. 

Mary nervously glanced at her mate. 

“Dean is still a better option when it comes to protecting you,” John said.

“Yeah, but he’s not here now, is he? He’s never here. Besides, I can take care of myself. I’m not some fragile little thing just because I’m an omega,” Sam exclaimed. 

John let out a puff of air and mumbled something about ‘dramatic. “I’ll drive you and Connor to the movies,” he said loud and clear. 

“And Connor isn’t afraid of beavers, he’s afraid of spiders though,” Sam mumbled. 

“Beavers? We don’t even have them around here,” Mary asked confusedly. 

Sam’s shoulders slumped. “Just something Dean said. He said that Connor wouldn’t even be able to protect me from a beaver. I don’t think he likes Connor that much.”

John placed a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder. “He’s not supposed to like any alpha you bring home, he’s your older brother, and it’s his job to scare them away.”

‘He has to be around for that’, Sam thought, but he didn’t say anything.

…………….

“I think they used too many special effects,” Sam said before he shoved another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. They had watched an action movie that had relied heavily on special effects rather than a good storyline. Connor had loved it. Sam had been bored to tears. He had been the first to stand up once the movie was finally over, and he had suggested that they should go and get some ice-cream, because he needed the sugar rush after that lame movie. So here they were, at Claire’s ice-cream parlour, eating ice-cream with sprinkles on top. 

“I think it was awesome,” Connor grinned. “I mean what’s the point of watching an action movie if they don’t blow stuff up?” 

Sam couldn’t help but smile. Dean always said the same thing. Sam, on the other hand, preferred dialogue over explosions. 

Connor stared down at his ice-cream cone. “I’m glad you texted me today,” he mumbled. 

“I’m glad you were free,” Sam said. Unlike other people, he thought bitterly. Dean would never clear his busy schedule to go and see a movie with Sam. 

Connor looked up. “You know…we could do this again…if you want?” 

Sam let out a laugh. “Connor, you’re one of my best friends. Of course we’re going to hang out again.”

Connor took a deep breath. “I meant just you and me. Not with my sister or anyone else.” 

“You want us to spend more time together, just the two of us?” Sam asked confusedly. Connor had never objected to going out as a group, and Sam had always thought ‘the more the merrier’. 

“Olivia didn’t have plans today,” Connor confessed and looked down at his ice-cream cone again. Sam noticed that Connor’s cheeks looked a bit flushed. 

“Did you guys have a fight?” Sam asked. He knew that sometimes, after a fight, Connor and Olivia needed some time away from each other. 

“Not really,” Connor mumbled and refused to look Sam in the eyes. 

Sam could feel his heart starting to beat faster. Connor had wanted to spend time alone with him. Sam wasn’t stupid, he knew where the conversation was going, but he didn’t want to go there. Truth to be told, he didn’t want Connor to have feelings for him, because those feelings weren’t reciprocated. Sam’s feelings towards Connor were strictly platonic. It’s not because there was something wrong with Connor, he just wasn’t right. 

“Do you want to go on a date…with me?” Connor asked timidly. 

Connor had always been loud and extrovert, so his sudden shyness was hard for Sam to deal with. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Connor was nervous and scared. Sam felt horrible, because as much as he wanted to say yes just to make Connor happy, he knew deep down inside that that wasn’t right either. The truth would hurt, but Sam knew that it’d be much worse if he led Connor on and then dumped him later.

“I’m kind of hoping that I have a bond mate,” Sam said. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. Sam would be over the moon if it turned out that he had a true bond mate. Maybe it was all fairytale and cliché, but he didn’t care. To have someone who would love him like crazy for eternity was very appealing, but he wasn’t exactly opposed to dating if it turned out that he didn’t have a bond mate. He didn’t want to waste years and years of waiting for his bond mate to show up, and then stupidly realize that he didn’t even have one. 

“Yeah, sure,” Connor nodded. “Sure, I get it.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam bit his lip. 

“Nah, don’t be,” Connor waved it off and tried to look like the whole rejection didn’t bother him a bit, but Sam could tell that his friend was hurt. 

When John showed up to pick them up a few minutes later, Sam felt relieved. 

Later that night when Sam laid in bed he couldn’t help but think over the day’s events. It’s not like he hadn’t been asked out before, because he had, and he had turned them all down. Every time someone had asked him out, he had politely said no, because it had never felt right. He had even turned down James Carmichael. James was handsome, rich and popular, and he could turn any unmated beta or omega into a stuttering mess. Except for Sam, who hadn’t been the least bit excited about the fact that James wanted him. Olivia had nearly fainted when she heard that Sam had turned down the almighty James Carmichael. 

Whenever Sam thought of his future mate he pictured someone strong, caring and protective. Sam didn’t want to be mollycoddled, and he didn’t want to be treated as if he were weak just because he was an omega. But he wanted a strong alpha, who could just wrap his arms around him and protect him from all the evil in the world. 

Deep down, Sam knew that Dean had ruined him for all alphas to come. Sam remembered all the times Dean had held him during stormy nights, how he had whispered soothing words into his ear so he wouldn’t focus on the sound of the thunder. Sam remembered all of the times where he had been sad for some reason, and how Dean had always been there to try and cheer him up. Sam thought back to all the times Dean had let him win when they raced through the woods. Dean had always been competitive, but he could make an exception when it came to Sam. Dean didn’t seem to mind losing sometimes if it made Sam happy. 

Sam knew why he kept turning alphas down when they asked him out, it was because he compared them all to Dean, and no one could ever compare to Dean. Sam wanted a future mate as caring and protective as Dean. Unfortunately, his classmates weren’t exactly on the same level as Dean. 

Sam closed his eyes, and it took a while for him to fall asleep. 

……..

As promised, Dean showed up at eight am on Monday morning, just in time to walk Sam to school. Sam didn’t even bother to hide his smile as they walked to school. 

“I didn’t think you’d show up, but I’m glad you did,” Sam said.

Dean looked hurt. “I’ll always be here to walk you to school. You know that.”

Sam shrugged. “You didn’t come home at all this weekend.”

“I had to squeeze in some extra training before the try-outs. I’m the only fourteen-year-old this year. The rest of the alphas are sixteen,” Dean said. 

“I know you’ll beat all of them,” Sam smiled and bumped his shoulder against Dean’s. 

“I think you’re biased,” Dean chuckled. 

“Hey, just because I love you doesn’t mean that I always have to lie to make you happy. You’re better than all of them. I mean it,” Sam grinned. 

Dean’s heart physically ached. Sam’s declaration of love was so casual and so painfully brotherly. It reminded Dean that Sam didn’t love him the same way that Dean loved him, because Dean would never be able to tell Sam, in a casual way, that he loved him. Not anymore. Whenever Dean thought about how much he loved Sam he’d get all choked up inside. 

Dean cleared his throat, and decided that it was best to change the subject. “Mom said that Rosie had decided to sleep in for once. I wanted to see her before school.” He had always thought of Rosie as annoying, but now he actually missed her. There was a nagging fear in the back of his mind that Rosie would forget him if he spent too much time away from home. 

“She’ll be awake later when we get home,” Sam said. “She got a new tooth,” he informed his older brother. “She can bite pretty hard too if she wants to,” he laughed. 

Dean hummed something incoherent in return, he couldn’t form a sentence. All he could think about was how he started to feel like an outsider in his own family. 

“Mom and dad are going out today. Rhonda is coming over to watch us,” Sam continued. 

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Our next door neighbour is coming over to watch us? Really?” Dean snorted. “We’re old enough to take care of ourselves and Rosie.”

Sam shoved his hands into his pockets and stared down at the ground ahead of him. “No one was sure you’d show up today, so mom and dad figured that it’d be too much responsibility for me to take care of Rosie on my own.”

Dean shook his head. Did everyone think of him like that? That he was someone who never kept his promises. “I’ll come home with you after school. We’ll take care of Rosie together,” he promised. 

Sam smiled so big that Dean knew that his cheeks must’ve hurt. Or maybe smiling didn’t hurt Sam. Maybe Sam was just born to smile. 

………

The cafeteria was noisy as usual. Dean had brought lunch, but he needed to buy something to drink. 

“Would I seem needy if I called Dillon right now?” Colby asked and grabbed a yoghurt. 

Dean shrugged and grabbed a bottle of water. Ever since Dillon started at the Academy a couple a months ago, Colby had tried his best not to let the separation anxiety show. Dean secretly thought that his friend was a lousy actor. “He’s your mate. He loves you, you love him. Be needy, who cares?” 

“Because I don’t want to come off as needy,” Colby rolled his eyes at his friend’s stupidity. “I want to be independent, I don’t need an alpha, and all that,” he said, sounding very frustrated. 

“But you do need your alpha. You are bond mates, and he’s bit you and all that. So you can’t be apart for too long,” Dean stated the obvious. 

“Yeah, but I don’t want him to think that I’m needy,” Colby snorted. 

“Hate to break it to you, but you cling to him like a koala bear every time you’re together,” Dean said. 

“He likes it,” Colby said through gritted teeth. He shook his head. “You know, I used to be independent before this thing on my neck,” he pointed at his mating scar. 

“Uh-uh,” Dean said in a non-committal way as he paid for his water bottle. 

“He texted me this morning, and told me to have a good day and all. But why doesn’t he call me? He can’t just bite my neck and then never call. What am I supposed to do with a text, huh?” Colby put his hand on his hip and looked Dean sternly in the eyes as he awaited his answer. 

“Okay,” Dean held his hands up. “This right here, is crazy. Dillon loves you. No, scratch that, he worships you. If you want to call him, just call him.” Dean was seriously fed up with the conversation. 

“Yeah, but then I’d seem needy,” Colby stated. 

“And we’re back to square one,” Dean mumbled as they grabbed an empty table. 

Dean had only ever had one friend in his grade, and that had been Stan, but for some reason they had stopped hanging out together. Dean can’t remember why, but it had something to do about the way Stan spoke about Sam. 

Finding friends wasn’t exactly easy for Dean. Most alphas hated his guts. Dean was faster and stronger than all the alphas in his grade, and he could even beat most alphas in the grade above him too. Dean had been grateful when Dillon and Colby had invited him to join their group of friends. 

A couple of beta girls, Mindy and Zoe, walked by their table and giggled. “Hi Dean,” they said in unison. 

Dean gave them a quick nod and a faint smile before he dug into his homemade lasagna. Colby raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s like I’m invisible. I swear, before I got mated I got plenty of looks. Somehow that just stopped after my Neanderthal mate sunk his teeth into my neck,” Colby sighed. 

Dean chuckled and shook his head. “And here I was, thinking that you actually enjoyed being mated to your Neanderthal.”

“They’re cute,” Colby commented, “Mindy and Zoe,” he added for clarification. 

Dean shrugged. 

“And single too,” Colby added. 

Dean rolled his eyes, he knew where the conversation was going and he wasn’t interested in either Mindy or Zoe. 

“I’d go for Zoe, she reads comic books. That’s my kinda girl,” Colby smiled. “Who’d you pick?” 

“My mate,” Dean blurted out. Thank god the cafeteria was noisy, and that nobody, except for Colby, had heard what he had just said. 

Colby instantly stopped smiling. “I’m sorry,” he softly said. “I just thought that, you know, you could start date someone else. Get your mind off your mystery mate.”

“I don’t think it works that way,” Dean fought the urge to look in Sam’s direction. Sam was seated about ten tables away, but Dean still thought that they were too close. The bond was still clawing at Dean’s insides, desperately wanting to leap into action. 

“It’s been a year Dean,” Colby reminded his friend in a gentle tone. 

“Can we not talk about this?” Dean snapped. 

“Fine,” Colby gave up. 

Dean let out a sigh. “Sorry, for you know, snapping at you.”

“I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Colby shook his head. 

“So did you finish you report last night?” Dean changed the subject and thankfully Cody started talking about his report.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of the kudos and the lovely comments, they keep me going :) This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous one, but the next chapter will probably be a be bit longer with the fights and all ;)

“Remember to call us if there’s anything you need, or anything you want to ask,” Mary said and it was obvious that she was reluctant to leave her two oldest kids to take care of themselves and little Rosie. She hesitated before she grabbed her handbag and her coat. 

“Mom, we’ll be fine,” Sam laughed and rocked a giggling Rosie. “Won’t we Ro-ro?” Sam cooed at his little sister, who only giggled in response. 

“Rhonda is coming over later,” Mary told her sons. 

Dean snorted something incoherent and shook his head. Of course their mother wasn’t just going to let them handle this on their own without a babysitter. 

John placed a comforting hand on his oldest son’s shoulder. “I tried my best son. But your mother tends to win our arguments,” he said and smiled at Dean. 

“Bye mom, bye dad,” Sam said and hugged their parents goodbye. 

Once the door finally closed, and their parents were out of ear-shot, Dean let out a laugh. “They’re just going out to eat, it’s not like they’re going to leave the country. We can take care of ourselves for a couple of hours,” Dean said and rolled his eyes at their parents’ nervousness. 

“And we can take care of this little munchkins as well,” Sam said and kissed Rosie’s chubby cheeks. Rosie proceeded to tug on Sam’s floppy hair, which caused Sam to let out a pained grunt. 

“Get him Rosie,” Dean smirked. 

Sam raised his eyebrows. “You actually want her to hurt me?” 

“Isn’t that what siblings are supposed to do to each other?” Dean continued to smirk. “I remember how Stan’s older brother used to attack Stan. Stan even ended up in the hospital once.”

“Thank god we were never like that,” Sam shuddered. 

“Yeah,” Dean said and tried to sound casual. He couldn’t help but wonder why that was. Why had they never attacked each other like normal wolf siblings? Sure, Stan and his brother were crazy stupid, and their attacks on each other were exceptionally viscous, but their behaviour was still considered more normal than the way Dean and Sam cared for each other. 

“We should get started on dinner,” Sam said. 

Dean frowned. “What? I have to cook now?”

“No, mom did most of the work. We just have to heat it up and make a salad,” Sam rolled his eyes. Sometimes his brother could be such a lazy-ass. 

Thankfully their mom had prepared a delicious chicken casserole, and Sam had been right, all they had do was to heat it up. Sam opted to heat it up in the oven, because he claimed that the microwave would spoil the dish and make it dry. Dean thought that heating something up in the oven when they had a perfectly fine microwave was a little bit excessive, but he let Sam have his way. 

“I don’t get why I have to make the salad, it’s not like I’m going to eat it anyways,” Dean grunted as he chopped the tomatoes. 

“Yes, you are,” Sam replied way to cheerily. 

……………

“Open up for the airplane,” Sam said and made a whooshing noise as he tried to feed Rosie a spoonful of pureed baby food. 

“Sam, she’s almost two. Let her try 'n eat on her own,” Dean commented. 

“She’s one and a half,” Sam exclaimed. “She’s a baby!” he protested. 

“You’re such a mother-hen,” Dean chuckled. 

“Am not,” Sam pouted. 

Dean couldn’t contain his laughter, Sam had always looked like a duck whenever he pouted.

“You can make fun of me all you want, but I’m gonna be a good parent one day,” Sam said cheerily. 

Dean felt like he had been stabbed in the heart. “Of course, you’ll be,” he murmured. One day Sam would mate with someone and have pups with that someone. All of a sudden the air felt much heavier, and Dean could barely breathe. Thankfully, Sam had turned all his attention back to Rosie. Dean willed his body to relax and once his breathing went back to normal he drank his entire glass of water in one go. 

“I’m gonna get another glass of..,” Dean pointed at his empty glass. “Do you want one too?”

“No, I’m good,” Sam replied. 

Dean stood up, grabbed his empty glass and walked over to the kitchen counter. He filled up his glass with cold water, and when he turned back around he couldn’t help but admire the view in front of him. Sam was successfully feeding Rosie. Every once in a while Sam made cooing noises that elicited a giggle from Rosie. It was all so domestic. Dean couldn’t help but let his thoughts wander. 

He imagined himself and Sam, somewhere in the future, in their own home, in their own kitchen, eating dinner and feeding their own daughter or son. Dean would walk up to Sam, and place his arms around him from behind and whisper something silly and romantic in his ear, and Sam would love it. They would have the kind of relationship their parents had. Dean had seen how much his parents loved and cared for each other, and he longed to have that. With Sam. Because there was no other one in the world that Dean would rather have that with. 

Suddenly Dean’s legs started moving on their own accord, and he walked up to Sam. Sam didn’t say anything, he just smiled up at Dean. Sam’s sugary sweet scent only got stronger and Dean inhaled deeply. Before, he did anything stupid, Dean quickly walked over to his chair and took a seat. For a split second he had thought about putting his hands on Sam’s shoulders, hold the omega in a tight grip, and then sink his fangs into Sam’s neck. It would’ve been so easy. 

It was a dark thought, and it scared the shit out of Dean. He hated himself for even thinking about it. Deep down, he knew that he would never be capable of doing that to Sam, or anyone else for that matter. But he hated himself for even letting that thought cross his mind. 

The rest of the dinner went slowly. Rhonda showed up after they had had dinner and relieved the boys from their babysitting duty. Unfortunately, it meant that Sam could turn his entire focus towards Dean. 

Dean had walked upstairs to his room, hoping to be alone. Sam had showed up only seconds later and Dean’s plan of avoiding Sammy had pretty much fallen through. 

Sam took a seat on Dean’s desk chair. “You should teach me how to fight,” Sam said while he spun around in his chair. The chair creaked a bit, but that didn’t stop Sam. 

“You’re gonna get dizzy,” was all Dean said. 

Sam smirked and continued to spin around in the chair. “I need to learn how to protect myself.”

“You don’t,” Dean said and laid down on his bed. “I’ll protect you, you know that.” 

Sam stopped spinning around, and the look on his face turned serious. “I’m not weak just because I’m an omega.”

“I never said you were,” Dean said sincerely. “But we’ve had this talk before, and you know I’ll be there to walk you to school, and then back home, even if I get into the Academy. Nothing’s gonna change.” 

Sam looked down at his hands. “Promise to be careful Dean. I know what goes on during the try-outs. The fights are so bad, and the other wolves are going to hurt you, and..,” Sam started to sound scared. 

Dean quickly sat up and walked over to his little brother and crouched down in front of him. “Hey, everything’s going to be alright. I’ve trained hard, remember? No one can hurt me,” Dean smiled and placed his hands on Sam’s knees and squeezed them a bit. 

“You bleed just like everyone else,” Sam reminded the alpha. “I wish you would just wait, and build up your strength. Maybe apply in a couple of years or so.” 

Waiting wasn’t an option for Dean, he needed to get into the Academy now, and away from Sam. 

Dean just shook his head. 

“I wish I could come and see you at the try-outs,” Sam said. Immediate family members were strictly forbidden to sit in the audience during the try-outs. The try-outs for the Guard Wolves’ Academy were brutal, and the judge only blew the whistle to stop the fight if one of the competing alpha’s life was at stake. Family members couldn’t handle seeing that, and plus, the fighting alphas didn’t want their family members to see them injured like that. 

“Trust me Sammy, you don’t want to see that,” Dean chuckled. “You still scream at the sight of blood.”

“Yeah,” Sam agreed with a slight chuckle. He had been hoping he could follow his mother in her footsteps and become a nurse, but since he had a fear of seeing blood, he couldn’t really become a nurse. 

“I’ll be fine,” Dean assured his younger brother. 

…………..

Dean splashed his face with cold water. It was still early in the morning, and the sun had still not risen. It was the morning of the try-outs. The day that Dean had been waiting for in what felt like forever. “This is it,” he mumbled as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t nervous at all. There was some nervousness, but admitting it was okay, but letting it show? That would be a fatal mistake. Nervousness meant weakness. If Dean so much as showed weakness he’d never even last a full minute at the arena where the try-outs would be held. 

He had chosen to spend the night before the try-out at the Singer-Harvelle’s house. Bobby had knocked on his door at five am and told him to get up. Dean had gotten what was probably the worst night’s sleep ever. He had dozed on and off during the entire night. Thankfully he had crammed in a good nap the day before, and he didn’t have dark rings underneath his eyes or anything. 

The fluorescent bathroom light made him look a bit pale. Dean placed his fingertips on his bare chest and traced one of the longer scars that stretched from his chest up to his right shoulder. The scar was a nice reminder of the first fight he had ever won against Jo, and Dean saw it as his badge of honour. The fight had been brutal, it had been going on for almost an hour, and the rain had been pouring down on them, turning the ground into a muddy mess. Bobby had yelled at them, and told them to call it a quit, but neither Dean nor Jo had wanted the fight to end with an even score. So they had continued to fight. Dean remembered how all he could see was mud, and how badly his body had hurt even though he was running high on adrenaline. Dean had been sick and tired of losing against Jo, and he had been determined to win. That sheer determination sure helped him win. He had gathered his last strength and attacked, and he had won. Jo didn’t speak to him for weeks afterwards. She had taken the loss that hard. 

Dean hoped and prayed that he had trained hard enough. The hours, days, months that he had spent on training suddenly didn’t seem enough. He should’ve done more. He thought back to all the times that he had taken a nap or watched a movie, and he felt angry with himself. Because he should’ve used those hours to train. He tightened his abs and flexed his muscles. It was strange to think that just a few months ago, he barely had any visible muscles. Now he had a nice solid six-pack. 

…………

Breakfast consisted of two slices of toast and a glass of milk. 

“Less to throw up,” Bobby explained and took a seat opposite Dean at the kitchen table. 

“Who says I’m going to throw up?” Dean challenged, but he knew that he would probably throw up from exhaustion at some point during the try-outs. 

Bobby half-snorted, half-laughed, before his face all of a sudden turned serious. “Look kid, this is everything we’ve ever worked for. I don’t doubt for a second that you are going to make it. I never would’ve thrown you into the pit if I didn’t think that you were going to make it.”

“I know,” Dean nodded. “You have a reputation to uphold.” Bobby Singer was a famous coach, and every wolf that he had ever coached had made it into the Academy. Bobby was known not to discriminate, and he had even coached a couple of betas, and they had both made it into the Academy. 

“It’s not just that,” Bobby said. “I believe in you.” 

Too stunned to talk, Dean could only nod. Bobby Singer wasn’t known to praise his students. 

“I got the list of opponents ten minutes ago,” Bobby changed the subject. “You’re going up against Colin Carmichael first. He’s one evil son-of-a-bitch, he will do anything to win, but he fights dirty, which is why you are going to lure him into a corner. That will force him to do something that’s against the rules and regulations, and the judge will blow the whistle and you’ll automatically win.” 

Dean quickly shook his head. “I don’t want to win like that. I want to win because I’m the strongest, not because the judge blows the whistle on the fight.” 

Bobby leaned forward and looked Dean in the eyes. “That’s very noble of you, and I admire you for it, but don’t be stupid kid. Colin is two years older than you are, and he has had more training than you. Now is not the time to be noble,” Bobby warned. 

“Who’s next?” Dean changed the subject, he didn’t want to be reminded of the fact that his opponents were older and that they had had more practice. 

“Dylan Walters, age seventeen,” Bobby replied. “He got mated last year and skipped training. You know how the story goes,” Bobby waved his hand. 

Dean nodded. He had seen how hard Dillon had had to work to get back into shape after his mating. The funny thing was that most alphas tended to blame it on their mates being too clingy and stealing all their precious time, when it was in fact the alphas who needed to be close to their mates all the time after a new mating. 

“But Dylan is still a worthy opponent. He won’t be an easy match, so don’t think that for a second,” Bobby warned. 

“I won’t,” Dean promised, he knew that one should never think that a fight would be easy, because one should be prepared for anything during a fight. 

“After Dylan you’ll go up against Lloyd. It’ll be a nice breather for you. I’m not telling you to underestimate Lloyd’s strength, but it’ll be a nice change compared to Dylan and Colin,” Bobby explained. 

“Who’s next?” Dean asked. 

“We’ll go over the full list later,” Bobby replied. “Right now you need to finish your breakfast,” he pointed at the plate in front of Dean, “And then we’ll start warming up. I don’t want you to do any weight-lifting, you need to save your strength. But doing a few laps around the pond will be good for you.” 

……….

Running had never felt so good. It helped ease some of Dean’s nervousness. Dean quickened his pace and he allowed himself to block all of his fears out. This was it. The day he had been waiting for. 

It took a grand total of twenty laps around the pond until Bobby declared that Dean was fully warmed up. 

Dean hit the showers, and he leaned back against the bathroom wall as the water cascaded down his body. He closed his eyes and felt the steady rise and fall of his chest, he felt how hard and fast his heart was beating in his chest, and he felt the coldness of the bathroom tiles against his back. 

Unfortunately, Bobby banged on the door only a couple of minutes later, and Dean turned off the water. It was time to get going. 

…………

The arena was full of alphas doing various kinds of exercise. Some were jumping up and down in one place, some were doing push-ups and some were running in one place. Dean chose to stretch. Actually, it was Bobby who had told him to stretch, Dean had wanted to do push-ups, but Bobby had quickly told him that that was a bad idea right before he left to go chat with some of the other coaches. Dean knew that he should save his strength, but he wanted to show the other alphas that he wasn’t weak. He had already gotten plenty of condescending looks from the other alphas. They were trying to psych him out, trying to upset him and make him feel small. But Dean was having none of that, he had worked hard to earn his place in the try-outs. 

“They’re letting kids compete this year. I want some real competition,” an alpha muttered to his friend as they walked past Dean. 

Dean tried to block out their voices. He didn’t want to hear them.

When Bobby came back, Dean had calmed down enough to focus on his breathing instead of what the other alpha-assholes said about him. 

“Here,” Bobby said and handed Dean a bottle of water, which Dean accepted. “Are the older alphas giving you shit already?” Bobby asked when he noticed how strangely subdued Dean looked all of a sudden. When they had arrived Dean had looked fine, nervous as hell, but still fine. 

“Maybe I should take off this bulky sweater, and show them that I’ve got what it takes,” Dean said and started to peel off his shirt, but was immediately stopped by Bobby. 

“No,” Bobby sternly told the younger alpha. “You want to let them believe that you’re a defenseless little kid. That way they’ll let their guard down, they’ll think you’ll be an easy match, but boy are they wrong,” he explained. “They won’t know what hit them,” he added with a smirk. 

More and more werewolves filled up the bleachers. This was the event of the year and it always drew a lot of wolves to the arena. Dean knew that there were even a few humans in the audience. Humans weren’t really allowed to sit in the audience during werewolves’ events like these, but there were a few insanely rich humans who were above the law and managed to buy their way into the arena. The Guard Wolves Academy called these humans ‘sponsors’, and the Academy relied on their generous donations to the school. 

“Attention all alphas,” a deep voice said into the microphone, and everyone listened up. Dean recognized the voice immediately, it belonged to their High Alpha Jason Richardson. Dean took a deep breath, hearing their High Alpha speak made everything seem more real. 

“It’s my honor to welcome you all to this year’s try-outs for the Guard Wolves Academy,” Alpha Richardson spoke, and he was met with loud cheers. Everyone was at their feet for the High Alpha. 

Dean could feel his heart hammering in his chest. This was it.


End file.
